Everyone Deserves a Second Chance
by Slyvia
Summary: “If I can’t have you,” he smiled raising his hands, making slow hand signs, “then the Uchiha can’t either,” he cackled as he took a breath and spit out flames around the kitchen, igniting the wooden walls. Read and Review!
1. A Freed Angel

**Everyone Deserves A Second Chance**

**By:** IM.FLIPPIN.RAD.

**This is IM.FLIPPIN.RAD story, she let me have it. This idea belongs to IM.FLIPPIN.RAD, I am just finishing the story. All creative credit goes to IM.FLIPPIN.RAD so i hope you all like it. This is her first chapter so i left it like it was originally but the rest of the story is mine.

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**Chapter 1:** Escape

A light breeze blew through her long, pink, silky hair. Her dull, jade eyes watched the ocean's waves go back and forth. She pulled her knee's closer to her chest and her white dress swayed back and forth and her bare feet played with the sand.

_'Why is he doing this to me? What did I ever do?'_

She glanced at her bruised arms and sore legs. Her 'master' always treated her like this. No mercy, she had to do what he said or he would beat her senseless. If she was lucky, all he would do was pleasure himself. No her master has never had sex with her before, but they have gotten close.

He said he would wait for the right time to break her, but he wanted all the fun with her he could have before he would dispose of her. She was a beautiful girl, 16 years old, had a petite and fragile body, worth holding on to. Her master lived in Konoha, on an abandoned area off the shore in a one story house. He had two viscous guard dogs so if she were ever to try and run away, they would get her. Though she hasn't tried.

Once she tried to fight back, the very first night he had with her. But ended horrible, she was beaten so badly that the only thing she remembers is her name and doing whatever anyone said. So after that she decided her life was practically over...but she still had hope...very little hope.

The sun was setting, orange rays bounced off the sea, shimmering.

_'How did I get here? I don't even remember...I have to get out of here... If not I might kill myself..and I don't want to die..I want to get away from here! From him...'_

She would be bawling her head off right now but she got used to it after 2 years with that man.

"Sakura." she heard a familiar voice behind her, feelings of hate and fear running throughout her body.

She said nothing.

The man smirked and yanked her head back.

She whimpered but barley.

"Heh, don't want to talk huh? I miss that pretty voice of yours...do I have to force you to say something?" he whispered in her ear, still keeping a firm grip on her hair.

"Or should I make you scream in pleasure?" he licked her ear.

"Neither." she barley said.

"Ah there's my little angel's voice." he smirked and let go of her hair." Now get inside."

Sakura's master was very handsome but in her eyes all she could see was a monster. He had messy red hair and yellow intimidating eyes. He had a built body, was very strong, and was around his twenties but she wasn't sure, he never talked about himself. She stood up and walked to the house, brushing past her master. When she got inside the little house, she was quickly pushed up against the wall.

Her face smacked the wall pretty hard and was dizzy.

"So my little whore...are you ready?" he purred into her neck.

"I'm not a whore." she choked out.

You can only treat someone like crap until they finally have enough.

He growled and pushed up against her, squishing her into the wall and making sure she could feel his harden penis.

"Did I give you permission to speak bitch?" he bit down onto her pale neck.

"No." his eyes opened in shock." I did!" After that her foot flew up and kicked him right in his jewels.

He fell down, groaning and grabbing his crotch.

She turned around too shocked at what she did, and then her brain screamed at her to RUN!

She nodded her head and ran, but before she got anywhere, her master grabbed her foot and caused her to fall.

"Let go of me!" she screamed, kicking.

He struggled and finally got on top of her.

"Stop squirming you little cunt!" he smacked her in the face.

He pinned her arms to the sides of her head.

"You asked for it bitch! Today I will break you!" he straddled the still squirming and screaming girl underneath him.

His lips came down on hers, hard, to shut her up.

All you could hear was her muffled cries.

_'No! I can't give up this easy! I got so far! I can't let him break me!'_

He started zipping down his zipper which caused Sakura to squirm, kick, and thrash around even more.

He lifted up her dress and ripped her panties off.

_'No!'_

He positioned himself in between her inner thighs.

His penis touched her vagina.

"Scream loud and hard for _me_ babe!" he was about to strike within her when she used all of her strength to free her grasp from his arms and punch him right in the face.

He fell completely back, the wind knock out of him.

Sakura took this time to get the hell out of there!

Even though all she was wearing was a white dress with no panties underneath, and barefoot.

She had no idea where the dogs were but she wasn't going to stick around and find out.

She was already a few blocks away from the house, running down a dark street.

"Sakura!!!" she heard her name being called by her master.

She ran even faster.

Before she new it, she could see lights.

_'The city.' _she thought with joy.

Then she heard her master calling out her name again, but this time he was angry!

She could tell he was running after her and not far behind too.

She could barley feel her feet anymore because the rough ground.

Now she saw a few mini stores and some alleys.

_'I should hide in one.' _she quickly thought and ran into the nearest and darkest one.

But before she got in, she bumped into a guy.

They both fell on top of each other.

"Ouch." he groaned.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" she got off of him.

She couldn't really tell his face since it was so dark outside.

"Yeah well watch out where you're fucking going next time!" he hollered.

"Shhh!" she covered his mouth." He can't know I'm here, please I'm begging you." she whispered.

"Sakura!" she heard her master again.

_'Sakura? No it can't be. Probably someone else...but could it?' _the teenager thought trying to look at the girl that was shivering.

"Oh no that's him!" she quickly pulled him and her into the alley.

"What the--"

Sakura covered his mouth again.

"Shhh." she had him pinned against the wall.

He could fell how bad she was shaking, and how she barley weighed anything.

_'Doesn't this girl even eat? Who is she?'_

"Sakura!" they heard the voice again but it was right outside the alley." I'll find you; remember I own your pretty ass!"

Her breath stopped.

_'Please go away, please go away.' _she begged.

"Damnit." they heard him whispered and he started walking away.

After a few minutes she sighed and pulled her hand away from the teenagers' mouth.

"Ok who the hell are you? And who was that guy?" he asked.

Sakura backed up a little bit so the moon light shone on her face.

"My names Sakura." she said. "That's all I know."

_'It can't be.' _

Sasuke Uchiha thought.

**Yay im done! **

**Sorry if the chaper is short!**

**&& sorry if I spelt some things wrong!!!!**

**I hoped you liked it!**

**I was just bored and made up this story so if you think I should continue this one or my other story ****Not Another High School Story****...then PLZ tell me!**

**Thanks love you bunches!**

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The second chapter and so on is MY writing so hopefully you all will like what i am doing with the story. The Second chapter starts now. . . . 


	2. Familiar Faces

Okay so this is the my first chapter of IM.FLIPPIN.RAD's story ! Hopefully you all like it and tell me what to change or what you don't like but here is the second chappie!

Slyvia:P

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"What did you say your name was?" Sasuke asked dumbfounded.

"Sakura. Look I'm sorry, but I just had to get away from him." She answered backing away from him.

"Who is he?"

"I don't know. He just kidnapped me and he… he's been" she started before bursting into tears. He brought her hands up to her face and cried into them muffling her response.

_'What's happened to you Sakura? You don't even remember who I am.'_ Sasuke thought walking towards her shaking frail form.

Her sheer white dress was tainted with blood and dirt stains. Her hair was stringy from her running. Sasuke walked over to her as she looked up at him, trembling as she started to move away.

_'What is it about him? He looks so familiar. Why? Who is he?'_ She thought to herself as her emerald eyes shook with fear.

"I won't hurt you" Sasuke stated as he stood within a foot of her. "My name's Sasuke Uchiha." He reached forward to grasp her hand from her face to look at her features.

She flinched and backed away quickly . She stumbled backwards as Sasuke quickly grabbed her small thin arms, steadying her.

_'Definitely her. How did this happen to her?'_ Sasuke thought as he clenched his eyebrows in disgust after thinking about the man chasing after her. Sasuke didn't need Sakura to finish telling him what he was doing with her, he knew and instantly and wanted to take her into his arms and comfort her.

"Please, don't-"Sakura started closing her eyes trying to pull away from his grasp.

"Sakura" Sasuke stated with a low voice pulling her frail body towards his green jonin jacket. "I won't hurt you, I promise." Instantly she relaxed as she pressed her face into his chest.

_'Why does this feel right? Why? Why does he look so familiar?'_

She looked up at his face, his hard calm black eyes, and his hair framing his face with his forehead protector glinting in the sun. She fixed her eyes on his jacket staring intently at it. She ran her fingers on the pouches holding his summoning scrolls.

_'I wonder if she remembers something from the jacket. Maybe Kakashi,'_ Sasuke thought staring down at her small hands.

_'That forehead protector? That symbol, I know that symbol.'_

"Sakura" He pulled her from her thoughts and brought a hand towards her face as she tightened her hold on his jacket and clamped her eyes shut ready for some sort of harsh blow. But it never came, instead a warm hand held her cheek and caressed it. She stiffened opening her eyes expecting to see vile yellow ones instead of dark brooding ones.

She instantly remembered that sometimes her 'master' would caress her face with his sickening touch after he had beaten her, but this felt different. She leaned into the touch and felt for once, like she was actually being comforted.

"Sakura" Sasuke spoke. Her eyes snapped open as a small delicate smiled graced his features. "You're safe now."

_'I will never let you go again. I'll protect you, I swear'_ he thought.

Sasuke lifted the small form of the girl into his arms and walked towards his home at the far end of the village. Sakura still held onto his jacket as he ran from roof top to roof top with her in his arms. She leaned her head on his chest and closed her eyes soon drifting off into sleep.

Sasuke neared the front door of his home near dusk as he noticed the sleeping form of the girl in his arms. Her breathing was shallow, almost like a cat's purr.

Sasuke took her up to his bedroom and placed her softly down on his bed. He looked over her crumpled form and noticed her cuts and bruises.

"Whoever did this to you will pay." Sasuke muttered softly clenching his fists together.

Sasuke quickly set to work on her cuts healing with what basic medic knowledge he had. After the wounds were sealed he decided to get rid of her tattered dress.

He quickly gulped and a small blush washed over his face as he removed the article to clothing and grabbing a large shirt of his and some pants. While lifting up her dress he noticed she had no under garments on and saw how her body was swolen and masked with purple bruises and old scars of scrapes and puncture wounds. He rapidly put the new clothes on her and decided to get her some clothes that would actually fit the next day.

After he was done with his work he pulled the covers over her body and took off his jonin jacket that she had been so fixated with in the alley. He placed it over her and ran his hand over her cheek reassuringly.

He settled himself down on the other side of the bed and turned to face her. He watched her body move up and down with each breath. Her face seemed pained even in her sleep as she rolled over to face him, her arm coming over by his.

Sasuke grabbed her hand and held it all night as he slowly drifted off into sleep.

Sakura awoke the next morning to realize that she was in some sort of comfortable bed. She opened her eyes to see a blurry face with dark hair and something gently holding her hand.

She bolted upwards ripping her hand away from the sleeping man beside her, waking him up. He sprang up with a kunai in hand looking around the room as she backed away from him.

"What! What is it?" He asked.

"Where am I?" She answered looking towards the door and back to his face.

"Oh" he said relaxing his muscles and slipping his kunai back into his pouch "I took you back to my home." He answered reassuringly.

"I-"

"Sakura, it's alright, I told you I won't hurt you." He reached forward to touch her hand expecting her to flinch away, but she didn't. She let him place his large hand on top of hers and quickly returned his touch.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because" He thought for a minute and couldn't tell her that he really knew who she was. She wouldn't believe him and he didn't want to scare her off. "Because I want to protect you Sakura and you have no where else to go." He replied steadily.

"T- T-Thank you Sasuke" She held on to his hand strongly staring into his eyes searching for something.

_'She's trying to remember. Don't worry Sakura, I won't let that man hurt you anymore. I'll protect you.'_

"Do you want some breakfast? You must be hungry." He asked smiling at her.

"S-S-Sure."

"Okay" He motioned to get out of the bed when she tightened her grip on his hand. "Don't worry; nothing is going to happen to you. I won't allow him to take you ever again."

She released his hand slightly biting back her fear of her 'master' coming to find her again.

"Sasuke" She squeaked out "Where are we?"

"Konoha."

"Oh." She said furrowing her eyebrows, trying to remember the name. It sounded so familiar to her and yet she couldn't place the name.

"Stay here and get some sleep, I'll bring the food up" He said walking out of his room and into the kitchen starting to prepare food when he felt her presence outside the door.

He looked back toward the door frame to see her poke her head through the door looking around like a scared little child.

"I-I-I don't want to be by myself, please" She started looking down at the floor. Sasuke instantly knew she was scared to death of being alone.

"Its okay, come sit down." He motioned for her to sit on one of the floor mats as he prepared a simple breakfast and set the plate of rice balls in front of her.

He sat across from her as she ate her food quietly every now and then looking up at him. He knew she was trying to remember him.

Before Sasuke could speak a high pitched sound rang through the home as Sasuke put his hands up over his ears.

"Oi Sasuke where are you?!" He yelled running into the kitchen and froze upon seeing Sakura.

"Eh? Saku-"He was quickly punched in the side of the head and dragged out of the room by an annoyed Sasuke.

"Don't mind him, I'm just going to have a talk with him" He stated irritated.

Sakura lightly laughed and Sasuke smiled staring at her.

_'That laugh, its good to hear again.'_ He thought as he dragged Naruto outside.

"Oi what did you do that for?" The blond ninja asked holding his head. "I just wanted to say hi to Sakura, I mean no knew where she disappeared to. Tsunade's been worried."

"Naruto, she was kidnapped by a man and made to be his, uh, 'toy'" Sasuke replied venom leaking with each word as he eyed his friend.

"What!" Naruto yelled. "Who did this to her? We have to-"

"Shut up loser! She doesn't remember any of us or Konoha!" Sasuke yelled placing his hand over Naruto's mouth.

"Listen to me" Sasuke started "she is trying to remember, I can see it, but you can't act like you know her. It would scare her. She barely talks and is terrified of anyone coming too close to her." Sasuke released Naruto's mouth as he placed his hands at his sides and looked towards the kitchen window.

"So what are supposed to do?" Naruto asked with tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

"Hopefully she will remember us, but I don't know. For now all we can do is protect her from that man. He followed her to the village but luckily, she bumped into me."

"So, do we tell Tsunade or what?" Naruto asked following Sasuke's gaze.

"Yeah, tell Tsunade and the rest of the shinobi about Sakura." Sasuke looked down defeated.

"Hey" Naruto put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder "don't worry, Sakura will be alright. I'll tell the rest of the gang what you told me, she'll be alright. She is strong after all."

"I know, just I can't leave her alone." He drew blood from his clenched fists as he thought of Sakura's captor "Not like this."

"I know, just take care of her, if I know you, you'll die before anyone touches her." Naruto smiled. "I'll tell Tsunade not to give you missions for awhile until she remembers us or something."

"Yeah." Sasuke looked at Naruto and smirked. "Well you'd better go introduce yourself. If anything ever happens to me, at least she'll have somewhere to go."

"Right."

Sakura stared at her plate until she heard the back door open and the blond ninja and Sasuke walked into the room.

"Sakura, this is Naruto Uzamaki. He's a friend of mine." Sasuke introduced "Naruto, this is Sakura."

It pained Naruto to see Sakura stare at him standing up hesitantly before looking to Sasuke to see if it was okay to walk towards him. Sasuke nodded and guided her to Naruto who held out his hand to her.

Sakura took his hand lightly before looking into his bright blue eyes down to the fox whiskers drawn on his face.

"Hi Naruto" she shyly said.

Naruto looked to Sasuke sympathetically who just looked dejectedly away.

"Hello Sakura, it's nice to meet you!" He smiled and quickly enveloped her into a hug, shocking Sasuke.

Naruto let a stray tear roll down his face as held onto her petite form, squishing her. She let out a small gasp as she started to shake and shiver uncomfortably for a second before she let her body relax and respond to the hug.

"Naruto, please, I can't breathe" She choked out.

"Oi idiot let her go! You're scaring her!" Sasuke shouted knocking Naruto upside the head. Sasuke reacted and looked at Sakura's tense form as she stared at Naruto, the same stare she gave him. He could tell that she was remembering their faces as she looked from Naruto to Sasuke and Sasuke to Naruto repeatedly. "Sakura are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes Sasuke."

"Sorry Sakura, guess I got a little carried away!" Naruto laughed putting his hands behind his head.

"A little!" Sasuke yelled glaring daggers at him.

"Ah, ehehe well I have to go! Got to meet Kakashi sensei for some-"

"Ramen" Sakura stated looking at Naruto.

"What?" Sasuke and Naruto both asked stunned.

"Ramen? You like ramen, I think, right?" She asked confused.

"Yes, yes! Naruto likes ramen, in fact he loves ramen Sakura!" Sasuke asked energetically raising an eyebrow at Naruto.

Sakura smiled at Sasuke as she looked at Naruto and spoke, "Naruto, it was nice to meet you."

Naruto's smile faded as he realized that she still didn't remember him or Sasuke.

"Yeah, it was nice to meet you too Sakura. I'll see you two around! Bye!" Naruto yelled while Sasuke gave an annoyed sigh and volunteered to walk him out.

When they walked out of the house Sasuke gave a small relieved smile.

"She remembers Naruto. She remembers."


	3. Remembering Scars

Okay here is the third chapter, i hope you all like it, it is a bit dark but don't worry there will be a lemon in this one soon but i need more reviews to keep it going!!!

Slyvia :P

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Sasuke said goodbye to Naruto when he heard a crash coming from the kitchen. He raced inside to find Sakura picking up pieces of broken plate from the floor. Her hands were bloodied with glass fragments as Sasuke spoke "Sakura, what happened?"

Sakura upon hearing him speak turned around with terror. She backed up towards the wall screaming.

"I'm sorry, I didn't. . . I'm sorry, please don't . . ." She cried bringing her blood drenched hands up to her face, cowering. She was wide eyed as she brought one hand down to rest on her left side. She clenched the fabric of Sasuke's shirt as she held her hand protectively on that spot.

"Sakura" Sasuke said as he inched closer to her only to have her slide to the side, away from him.

'I have to do this carefully, whatever happened she thinks I'm going to hurt her.'

"Please, I'm sorry! I won't do it again!" She shouted still rubbing her left side.

'Why does she keep doing that? What happened to her side?'

"Sakura, I'm not going to hurt you. I promise." Sasuke stated smoothly while walking past the broken plate towards her.

Sakura started to calm down as she looked up to see Sasuke kneeling down in front of her. Sasuke brought his hand up to her face and touched her cheek as she looked at him in the eyes.

"Listen to me. I won't hurt you" Sasuke started as he took her free hand into his, "its okay."

"I'm sorry" She cried shakily, looking over to the plate on the floor.

'All this for a broken plate?' Sasuke wondered, 'Whatever that bastard did to her, he's going to pay.'

"It's just a plate Sakura, it doesn't matter."

She stared at his confused face in amazement that he wasn't going to punish her, like her 'master' would have.

"Sasuke, I'm-"

"Sakura, its okay, I'm not angry." He tried to grab the hand holding onto her left side but was stopped by Sakura's sudden gasp.

"Don't!" She screamed clenching her eyes shut as he tightened her grip on her left side. "Just don't" she cried.

"Okay, okay" Sasuke said holding her other hand.

'Whatever happened must have been bad for her to be this scared.'

Sasuke let go of her hand for a second to get a towel to wipe up the blood on her hands. He looked over her form and noticed how she stared at him, the same stare she gave Naruto when she remembered that he liked ramen. Sasuke smiled at her and wetted the towel before going to sit in front of her again.

He wiped the one free hand she let him touch as the wounds stopped bleeding and went to grab her other hand. She tried to flinch away but was stopped when his hand grasped her other in a tight lock. She looked up at him with wide eyes as he wiped the blood away; she was broken from her thoughts when she spoke.

"What did he do to you?" He asked bitterly, staring at her side and back up to her face.

Sakura stared at him looking down to side and rubbed it slightly, remembering that day.

_"Bring me breakfast Sakura" her 'master' ordered getting up from his bed. Sakura nodded and turned to leave before she was slung against the wall and held up by her neck._

_"What are you-"She choked trying to scratch his hands away from her neck._

_"Where was my 'good morning master?'" he asked chuckling at her defiance._

_"Tch Good morning" she stated through clenched teeth kicking him in the stomach, his grip falling from her neck as he stumbled back._

_"Why you little!" He started grabbing her hair and yanking her across the floor into his lap._

_"Let go of me! I hate you! Let go!" She yelled at the top of her lungs struggling to get out of his grasp._

_He turned her around and smacked her across the face sending her flying into a chair at the side of his room. She got up feeling the slivers of wood pressing into her skin. Blood dripped down from her mouth as she was once again picked up by her hair and kneed in the stomach, breaking some of her ribs. She fell to the floor choking for air and grasping her sides. She thought he would leave her alone, but was surely mistaken._

_"I'll teach you not to disobey me Sakura" he cackled as she brought one foot up and kicked her onto her side, stopping her from getting up._

_He kicked her into the broken chair fragments and into the wall with as much force as he could and laughed as she screamed for him to stop. As he kicked her he muttered small curses as she writhed in pain. He stopped finally and stood over her battered form._

_He chuckled as she went to stand up and decided she hadn't learned her lesson yet. He went to kick her again, but missed as she dove out of the way and crashed into his nightstand, knocking it over. _

_She leaned against the nearby wall trying to catch her breath as he looked over her in amazement._

_"So, you still have some energy left do you? Well I'll take care of that!" He lunged at her only to be thrown back as she punched the side of his face with all the power she possessed, linked with some of her regained chakra. She didn't know how, but somewhere she remembered to control her chakra into her fist._

_She fell to the ground, strained with how much energy she had used. She tried to muster the strength again to get up, but her 'master' was too quick. She grabbed her by the back of her head and dragged her out of his bedroom and threw her against the wall by the stairs. _

_"You'd better be ready for tonight, you little brat! You're going to pay for this!" He yelled nursing his bruising jaw. His yellow eyes glowed with hatred and a hint of sick amusement._

_'If she still has this much energy after all this time, she's going to be fun.'_

_"Get my breakfast and hurry up, I'll be down in a few minutes." He growled._

_She stared up at him glaring daggers at him. She made no move to get up and instead coughed up blood onto the wooden floor beneath her, still cradling her ribs._

_"Tch" He sighed exacerbated. He picked her up by her neck and pushed her down the stairs. "Get my damn breakfast Sakura!" He hissed watching her fall backwards._

_Sakura screamed as she grabbed onto the railing, but the pain in her ribs made it hard to hold on. She was able to slide down on her sides, saving her from breaking her neck. She stopped on a step and pulled herself up, crying and hacking blood and limbed the rest of the way down._

_Her 'master' never lied, in a few minutes he was down waiting at the table for his meal with hungry eyes, not for the food by his little pet. Sakura managed his simple breakfast with quick trembling fingers, considering her condition._

_She grabbed the plate of rice balls and sake and went over to him only to double over in pain and drop the plate and cup, shattering them both. _

_She groaned in pain only to feel her 'master's' presence over her._

_"What the hell! That was my food!" He grabbed her by the neck and pushed her over towards where the stove was cooling off. He pushed her backwards against the hot metal as he turned on the burner. He held her down on her left side as she screamed from the intense heat. He left her there laughing maniacally as she trashed her body around trying to get him off of her._

_He finally let her go as the left part of her dress had a hole burned through it and was starting to bleed from her flesh being burned. She pressed her fingers into her side trying to stop the pain as he walked over to her and kneeled beside her._

_"Aww, now see what happened?" He gently smoothed her hair out of her face. "Well, breakfast will just have to be re-" _

_"No!" Sakura screeched as she pulled a hidden kunai out from a thigh holster and stabbed him in the shoulder. She had found the kunai on his nightstand when she toppled it over and hid it with the holster which she stole a couple of weeks ago from his closet when he was drunk._

_He shrieked in pain and tore the kunai out as she tried to run away. He was too fast, he grabbed her ankle and shoved the kunai into her left, burned, side and twisted it._

_"You little wench! I should kill you!" He shouted into her face as she convulsed in agony._

_"I should kill you, but I think keeping you around is more amusing" he mused as he laughed and pulled the blade out of her body._

_He got up and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm still expecting breakfast."_

Sakura thought about that morning and looked back at Sasuke as he asked her again, "Sakura, what did he do to you."

". . He burnt me . . ." she started.

"What?" Sasuke asked, not expecting her to say that. "Did he do anything else?" He bit out.

". . ." She started to cry again.

"Sakura, please, I need to know." Sasuke pressed his hands to the sides of her face and made her look into his eyes, "Please, I want to help you."

"He stabbed me." She stated as he moved her hand away from her side.

'That sick bastard' Sasuke thought 'how could I have let this happen, how did she end up like this! I'll kill him!'

Sasuke thought back to the night that she had tried to stop him from going to Orochimaru. He remembered how she hand promised to love and to protect him if he stayed, he then felt guilty. He was promising to kill this man who did this to Sakura, who had hurt her, but he realized that he had done the same thing years ago. He left her all alone on a bench, but he wasn't about to make that mistake again, he was going to protect her this time.

"Sakura, I promise, I will never do anything to hurt you again" Sasuke said as he pulled her into his arms and cradled her body close to his.

"Again?" She asked stifling her cries in his shirt.

'She doesn't remember. This is going to be hard.'

"Never mind, I just want to you to know" He stopped; he couldn't tell her that he loved her; she didn't remember him fully to understand what he would mean. His heart sank; he was just starting to turn his life around after Itachi's death and moving back to Konoha, but he couldn't tell her how much he missed and loved her.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked as his grip tightened around her body.

"Sakura, I want you to feel safe with me. I promise, who ever did this to you will pay. I promise." He stated lifting her body into his arms. He walked over to his room and laid her down under the covers of his bed.

"Sakura, get some sleep." He said as he moved some of her hair out of her face.

"Sasuke" Sakura held onto his hand "Can you stay?" She asked shyly.

Sasuke smiled down at her and sat on the bed next to her, "Yeah, I will." He answered.

He laid down on the bed and held Sakura's hand, like he had done last night. Sasuke stretched himself beside her and watched as she drifted off into sleep. He turned on his side and watched her steady breathing.

'I love you Sakura, I wish you knew that.' He touched her face and kissed her on her forehead before drifting off into his own sleep.

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Okay so what did you all think? Hopefully you like where this is going, please REVIEW REVIEW! I need more reviews, if i feel content with the number to reviews for this chater i may update this story if not, you will have to wait for three weeks. I am going to France so i will not have access to type this story but i have some ideas for the next chappie, if you have any just review them to me. I promise to add some and will give you credit for those i like! See ya later, remember REVIEW!

Slyvia:P


	4. Familiar Faces and Goals

Slyvia Here!

Hey all i'm back from France! Bonjour! It was amazing! Here is the fourth chapter, I would like more people to review and tell me what they would like to see in my story! If you have ideas, I have some but it is always fun to hear everyone else's! I may put some in, I will give credit so no worries! Well here goes the fourth chappie! Enjoy and REVIEW! 

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Sakura stirred beside Sasuke. He had drifted to sleep and was holding onto her. Sakura had awoken lying on his chest, still clasping his hand, with his other arm holding onto her waist.

She stared at his face and pulled her hand out of his to touch his cheek. She ran her fingertips over his face and up to his eyelids.

"Why do I feel like I know you? I can feel it. I know you from somewhere." She spoke softly as she played with a few pieces of his hair.

Sasuke stirred slightly in his sleep and moved his free arm over to Sakura's back and pushed her further down into his chest. Hesitantly, Sakura laid her head back down on his chest with her hand on his chest.

'Why does he seem so familiar? This feels right, why?'

Sakura settled into his embrace and fell asleep.

A few hours later Sasuke was awakened by his grumbling stomach. He turned to look at the time and realized that both Sakura and him had slept through lunch and were about to sleep through dinner.

He looked down at Sakura sleeping in his arms and smiled slightly.

'A few more minutes won't hurt.'

He stared at her face and thought about how peaceful she looked. He rubbed her back as she took one long breath. He picked up her hand with his and traced small patterns on the back and palm until his stomach was too much to bear.

'Damn it.' He thought, 'I wanted to lay with her a few more minutes.'

He skilfully, or so he thought, left the bed and placed her body under all of the covers, as he turned to leave he felt her gaze on his back.

"Sasuke?"

"I'm just going to make some dinner for us. Just lay down, I'll bring it to you."

She stared into his eyes. He could see she was contemplating getting up or staying but settled on staying. She nodded and sunk back down into the bed.

Sasuke walked down to the kitchen and started preparing a big dinner, since they had missed lunch, when there was a knock at the door.

'Damn, who the hell is it now?'

Sasuke answered only to be met with his former sensei Kakashi, Naruto, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.

"What do you want?" Sasuke bit out wanting to eat his dinner with Sakura.

"Sasuke" Tsunade spoke, "Naruto t-t-told me-" she sobbed as she stumbled to finish her sentence, "about s-s-s-Sakura. Please, tell me it isn't true!"

Sasuke stared dumbfounded at the crying Hokage and then looked from the saddened faces of Kakashi, Naruto and Jiraiya.

"What's all this about? If Naruto told you about her. . . 'condition' then what are you all doing here?" Sasuke tip toed around how to describe Sakura's memory loss.

"Sasuke, we need to talk." Kakashi said with a slight sadness to his voice. Without invite the four ninja came into his house and settled into the kitchen.

'Come in, please, I insist.' Sasuke thought bitterly.

"Just wait here, Sakura is upstairs."

The ninja nodded as Tsunade continued to cry. Sasuke took a tray of food up to his bedroom and quietly stepped into the room, so not to frighten her.

"Sakura I-" he stopped when he saw her rolled over on her side facing the door fast asleep. He smiled and left the plate on the nightstand for her as he pulled the covers up and kissed her forehead chastely.

He returned downstairs to hear Kakashi and Jiraiya talking quietly.

"What do you all want?" Sasuke stated annoyed as he sat down next to Naruto.

"Sasuke how is she?" Kakashi asked.

"If you all just came over to ask that-" Sasuke looked at their faces and realized something was wrong and decided to skip the coldness towards them, "she is starting to remember some things but, not good."

Tsunade started another round of tears as Kakashi tightened his fists and Naruto looked at the ground.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke," Jiraiya started rubbing Tsunade's back, "Sakura was sent out on a mission a year before you came back. It was an S-ranked mission to say the least."

"It's all my fault! I never should have sent her!" Tsunade cried.

"What is? What about the mission?" Sasuke started.

"Sasuke, this mission was a solo mission. Most would have called it a suicide mission as well." Jiraiya looked Sasuke in the eye. "We had found out some information on your whereabouts while you were searching for Itachi. We heard that you were somewhere by this village and decided to send someone to find out more."

"So you chose Sakura?" Sasuke incoherently said.

'You mean all of this; all of her pain went on for a year because of me. I always hurt her, why did this have to happen!' Sasuke screamed at himself.

"Yes." Tsunade nodded sniffling.

"That doesn't make any sense, if it was just a simple information mission, how could-"

"This village was in the middle of a brutal war. We had no idea how bad until Sakura sent us word, but she was right in the middle of it." Kakashi cut in.

"Sakura was sending information about the village and its people. She felt sorry for them and so she fought for the little village. She put them before her mission." Jiraiya added.

'That sounds like Sakura.' Sasuke half smiled remembering how she could care so much.

"What happened?"

"The village fought for a month, they won but not without cost. Sakura was seriously injured and- and- and-"Tsunade stopped at she put her hands up to her face and cried into them. Tears dripped through her hands and onto her knees and she mumbled phrases here and there.

"And? And what?" Sasuke snapped thinking of Sakura, injured and alone.

"Sasuke, there was one last raid on the village. Whoever it was, Sakura fought for the village one last time. We received this last letter from her," Kakashi held out an old scroll with dried dark spots all over it.

'Blood.' Sasuke thought.

"That was the last letter we got from her in over a year." Kakashi finished staring at Sasuke.

Sasuke held the scroll in his hands as Jiraiya spoke up, "We dispatched a team of ANBU a week after the scroll came. Naruto-"

"I was the leader. Tsunade sent me, Neji, Kiba, Ino, and Shikamaru to find her and bring her back. We looked everywhere for her but, she was gone!" Naruto clenched his fists and cried as he gritted out the rest, "We asked the villagers but they didn't know what happened to her. All they said that she saved them." Naruto wiped his tear stained cheeks and eyes only to have more tears fall.

"How couldn't you have found her? How! She-she-"Sasuke yelled getting up and pacing back and forth.

"She was gone Sasuke. We only found her headband; we barely recognized it with all the blood on it." Naruto stated.

"Why didn't you send ANBU with Sakura when you found out she was in a war or when she got injured? Why did you leave her all alone? Why!?" Sasuke screamed, marching over to Tsunade with his sharingan blazing.

"Sasuke that's enough!" Kakashi yelled getting up to block Sasuke.

"Sakura was all alone! How could you-" he screamed.

"Sasuke stop it! It's not Tsunade's fault! Sakura never asked for help!"

At that Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks. He turned off his sharingan and looked from Jiraiya to Kakashi. Kakashi held Sasuke's shoulders as he pushed him back.

"What do you mean she didn't ask for any help? What-"

"Just read the scroll Sasuke." Jiraiya spoke solemnly.

Kakashi sighed and spoke, "I think we should leave. If Sakura wakes up, seeing all of us down hear might scare her." With that Jiraiya, with Tsunade leaning against him, and Naruto rose from their seats to leave.

"Sasuke?" Tsunade asked.

"…"

"Tell her I'm sorry. I never meant for her to get hurt. We thought she was dead. Please, just tell her that." She cried looking directly into Sasuke's eyes.

"… Yeah, I will." He replied.

"Sasuke, I-" Naruto started.

"I know Naruto, I know. You should go now."

"Take care of her Sasuke." Kakashi said as he left the house.

"I will. I promise."

A few minutes after they left Sasuke took undid the clasp on the scroll and started to read it.

_Tsunade shisou,_

_I haven't found anything about Sasuke; the villagers don't seem to know. We must have gotten some false information. Tell Naruto I'm sorry, I know how much he wanted to go on this mission and I know how worried he is but, no one knows anything about Sasuke. It's hard to write this but, I've been injured, it's a complicated wound but once I get back to Konoha you can heal it. Tsunade, don't tell him and Kakashi sensei about the fighting, it'll just worry them. They don't need to know._

_The war is finally over but, this village is destroyed. I've been working day and night trying to heal everyone but I'm not enough. I haven't had enough chakra to heal my own wound, it's difficult to write this with it, but I needed to tell you: I don't want you to send any of the others here. I've heard news about another potential raid on the village and I'm trying to ready the villagers, just in case. Please don't worry, I will be home in a week or so if all goes well. _

_Love Sakura_

Sasuke put down the scroll thinking of how she was thrown into a war because of him. She couldn't even heal herself. For once Sasuke wished that Sakura was a selfish person, and would have left after finding nothing about him, instead of fighting.

'She could have been saved! Why didn't she just leave?' He thought bitterly as tears stung his eyes. He leaned forward into the wall holding the scroll tight in his hand.

'You know why, she couldn't have left even if she wanted to. She's not you Sasuke, she protects anybody she can. She always puts her life on the line, she could never be a selfish person.'

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't turn around to look at her and simply held the scroll in his hand.

"Sasuke? Is something wrong?" Sakura started to back slowly up the stairs.

"No. Nothing's wrong." Sasuke turned around to see her frightened face, "Everything is fine." He tried to lighten the mood but he still couldn't shake the thought of her being captured.

"Okay. The dinner was really nice, thank you." She smiled as she presented the tray with the dishes empty.

Sasuke smiled and walked over to take the tray.

"Your welcome. I'm glad you like it."

"Sasuke who were you talking to?" She asked poking her head around the wall to look into the living room.

'Oh shit. She heard.'

"Who? Oh no one. It was just the T.V." Sasuke lied following her gaze as he tucked the scroll into his pocket.

"Okay."

"Sakura, can we talk for a little bit?" Sasuke asked.

"Sure." She answered shyly stepping down from the stairs.

Sasuke took the tray into the kitchen and walked back out to find Sakura standing in the same place he left her. He motioned for her to sit on the couch and followed her into the living room. She still wore his large shirt and pants and sat down on the couch staring at him.

"Sakura, do you remember anything about when you were kidnapped?" He asked bluntly.

"I-I- don't really remember much, except some fuzzy scenes but, everything is pretty much a blank." She stared down, ashamed, at her hands avoiding Sasuke's gaze.

"Its okay," he said as he reached for her hands, "can you tell me what you do remember?"

"There was a small village and they were attacked. I don't know how but I was there with them. I remember that the village was on fire and everyone was screaming. I tried to get the people to safety but, I- " she placed her hand on her shoulder and ran the tips of her fingers along the edge of her back.

"Sakura, what happened?"

"I… I just remember pain. Kunai were in my back and I turned around to fight but I don't know what happened. It was all so fast, I can't remember!" she closed her eyes and started to cry, "I just remember the pain! It hurt so much! I just woke up with all of this blood and gashes on my body! I don't remember how I got them but, _he_ was there laughing at me! He just laughed! And-" She cried and didn't even realized that Sasuke had taken her into his arms.

"It hurt! It hurt so much! I was all alone and he just left me like that! He hurt me so much! It hurt!" She cried burying her face into Sasuke's chest.

"Sakura, he's not going to hurt you anymore. I promise. He will never hurt you anymore." Sasuke bit out through clenched teeth thinking about the way she was treated.

He laid his head on hers and let her cry out her pain as he held her in his arms, cradling her like a small child.

'How could I have let this happen! That bastard! I'll kill him!" His thoughts were once again turned towards revenge and hate, so much like when he had to kill his brother. Then it hit him, it was because of him that she was like this.

'She was looking for me. For me! I'm the reason she was tortured for a year! It's my fault! I'm the reason she's always in pain! I always hurt her!'

Sasuke was so caught up in his own thoughts he didn't realize that she had calmed down and was starting to doze off.

'Never again, I promise Sakura, never again will I hurt you.'

Sasuke lifted her up and took her upstairs to his room. He laid her down on his bed and climbed in with her without her having to ask. He held her in his arms again and was starting to fall asleep when she startled him.

"Sasuke?"

' He is so familiar. I know that name, Sasuke Uchiha, I know him.' Sakura thought.

"Hmm?"

"I know you don't I?"

'Please. I need to remember! I know you, your face; I've seen it so many times. I don't know where but I remember you!" She thought staring into his eyes and bringing her hands up touch his face.

'She remembers.' Sasuke thought smiling in relief to himself.

"Why do you say that?"

'What is it? Naruto and you, I know you both. I have to remember. Something about you makes me happy and yet I feel pain because of your face. Why?'

"I don't know. I just feel comfortable with you." She stuttered, "This village, Naruto, I know them don't I."

"Sakura-"

'Why do you make me happy and sad at the same time? Why do I feel this way? Who are you!'

"Please, Sasuke. I know I know you from somewhere. Just tell me the truth."

Sasuke let out a sigh and answered, "Yes Sakura, you do know me."

Sakura's heart sunk for a moment as his eyes closed and opened. "Naruto? I know him too don't I."

"Yes, you do." He answered still holding onto her.

'I remember! Something about a team, what team, I can ask Sasuke! No, I have to remember, Naruto, Sasuke, me and there was someone else, someone, who? Who? I have to remember!'

"A team." She blurted out.

"Sakura?" Sasuke bolted upward and held her face with his hands. Her bright green eyes widened then settled as she relaxed.

'She remembers us! Our team! She is starting to remember! Please, just remember us Sakura!' Sasuke screamed in his head, caressing her cheek.

"I was on that team. I was here, I belong here." She looked dejectedly down and shut her eyes as she fought with her mind to remember Sasuke.

'I know him. He means something to me. Why does looking at him make me sad and yet bring joy? How, he, he,' She thought as she caught onto one memory of Sasuke and why he made her feel the way she did.

_"Why won't you say anything to me?"_

_"Why do I have to tell you anything? It's none of your business."_

_"But if you're gone, to me, it'll be the same as being alone!"_

_"I love you so much! I'll do anything for you! Please! Stay here with me!"_

_"Sakura, Thank you."_

"Sakura? Are you okay?" Sasuke broke her from her thoughts as he moved closer.

"Sasuke Uchiha" She whispered as she moved one of her hands to the left side of his neck and down towards his shoulder. She placed her hand on where the curse mark was and closed her eyes and tears seeped through her clenched lids.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked again.

"You, you left me." She whispered.

"What?"

"You left me alone that night!" Her eyes shot open in horror as she looked him in the eye. "You left! You didn't care, it was you!"

She started to back away from him as she kept mumbling those same words over and over again.

"Sakura" Sasuke said as he moved towards her until she backed up to the edge of the bed. He grabbed her arm to stop her from going any farther and crawled over to where she was. "I'm sorry. Please listen to me."

'Damn, of all the things to remember, that had to be the first.'

"Why? Why did you leave me? For this!" She grabbed at the left of his neck and angrily looked into his eyes, searching for some sort of explanation.

"Please, just listen to me-"

"Did you really hate me that much?" Her words hit him hard, he hadn't expected her to remember all of those memories and he didn't know what to do but to embrace her. She struggled and started to thrash her arms in an attempt to free herself yelling, "No! No! Let me go! Why! Why didn't you stay! Why couldn't you! Why! Why!" she stopped thrashing and grabbed onto his shirt and cried into it.

Sasuke sat for a second, stunned; he never knew how much pain he had put her through. He had heard from Naruto and the others of the village but never from Sakura. All he ever did was leave her, he left her that night for power and he left her for three years to kill Itachi without much intent on returning. He let her be captured and tortured for a year. He let the only woman that could love him and fix his heart be beaten. He let a year go by without trying to search for her. He let her die; in fact he was the one who killed her.

"Sakura" he started to let a few tears flow from his eyes, "I'm sorry. I never hated you. How could you think-"

"How? You left me for power, that's all you care about!"

"No Sakura, I was blind then, I know that's no reason but,-"

"Why couldn't you love me? Wasn't I good enough?" she cried cutting him off.

"Sakura," Sasuke pulled away from her and looked into her painful teary eyes, "I was a fool, you were right. Revenge didn't make me happy; it didn't mean anything to me if you weren't with me. I love you Sakura, I promise I will protect you; I'll never let anything happen to you again. I love you."

Her eyes widened as she stared into his eyes. She searched for some sort of lie in his eyes; she searched for any ounce of doubt but, found none. All she found was sincerity, nothing of the boy she remembered leaving her. She reached up for his face and brushed her fingers over his cheek and his eyes and laid her head back down on his chest.

"Sasuke, please, don't leave me alone again."

Sasuke held onto her small body, shielding it from any doubts or pain she still harboured about him. He cradled her body as she buried her face into his shirt.

"I promise Sakura, I won't. I won't cause you anymore pain, I'll be here for you, I always will."

"Sasuke?"'

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, I love you too." Sakura smiled into his chest, closing her eyes. Sasuke held her body as he crawled back over towards the top of the covers and slipped inside. She still clung onto his shirt as he pulled one hand and held it to his heart.

Sasuke looked down at her peaceful face and for the first time, smiled. Everything was going to be alright, he had finally found his place and it was with her, holding her, loving her, he was ready to be there for her like she had been for him so many times before.

He kissed her forehead and nuzzled his forehead against hers, falling asleep.

"Sleep tight Sakura, I'll be seeing you soon. Then, the fun begins." As a small chuckle followed by two amused yellow eyes watched the Uchiha home from a distance, "Soon, Soon." A figure mused as he jumped back into the forest chuckling.

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Oh so evil, well no, well, whatever, hopefully you liked this chapter. Sasuke loves Sakura, awww, now if it would just happen in the manga! Grrr, but oh well. Sasuke is alittle weird in this story but I like him being all nice and stuff. Its a fan fic so it's my way. Now, REVIEW REVIEW! I love all you who have already but keep it coming, I'm debating whether or not to stop this story so MORE REVIEWS please!

Please and Thank you!

Slyvia!


	5. Running Away

Slyvia here!

Thank you to all my reviwers, i love you guys, you really kept me going. Don't worry i will finish this story, i have another story, an itasaku fic called when you're gone, go check it out, i could use some support! Thanks! Here is the fifth chappie! Enjoy!

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Sasuke awoke in the middle of the night thinking of what Sakura had said to him.

_'Why couldn't you love me? Wasn't I good enough?'_

'The look in her eyes, she still didn't believe me. I could tell, she still doesn't trust me.'

Sakura moved slightly against Sasuke, breaking him from his thoughts. He brought gaze down to look at her moonlit features.

'I don't want to hurt you anymore.' He thought as he remembered the day he killed his brother.

_Sasuke charged at Itachi with his chidori in hand. Itachi smirked as he dodged the attack and grabbed Sasuke's wrist but, surprisingly, found a shadow clone._

_"Did you really think I would fall for the same thing twice?" Sasuke smirked as he came from behind and plunged his katana through his brother's chest._

_"No," Sasuke heard from behind his ear. Itachi brought up a kunai and blocked a round of shuriken aimed from the side of him as the Sasuke clone in front of him disappeared._

_"Hn" Itachi chuckled, slightly amused by his brother's progress._

_"I will kill you!" Sasuke yelled as he ran towards his brother, sharingan blazing._

_Itachi saw his attack and prepared his fire jutsu. _

_"Fire style: Grand fireball jutsu" Itachi spoke as an enormous flame erupted towards Sasuke. Sasuke made the same hand signs and sent a fireball to match Itachi's. _

_The two fireballs raced towards each other and entwined. Both magnified the other and exploded around the two shinobi, each jumping away to safety._

_Itachi stared at Sasuke when the smoke cleared from their attack, ready for his brother's next attack._

_"This ends now Itachi!" Sasuke, through the lingering smoke charged another chidori, but this time it was different. _

_Itachi's brow knitted for a second, he couldn't see the hand signs through the smoke and could sense the strong chakra flowing through Sasuke's body. _

_'This isn't his normal attack; I have to expect the worst.' He thought and he steadied his chakra to use the Mangekyo sharingan._

_Sasuke charged towards his brother with the memories of his dead family members and his parents fresh in his head._

_'I won't lose to him. I won't let anyone else die.' _

_He remembered his mother and how she cared for him and tended to his wounds when he worked on his fireball jutsu for the first time. Her kindness, her hidden strength, she always was the one to comfort him only to be taken by his brother._

_He thought of the last good memory of his father, for once his father acknowledged him as his son. He remembered showing his father his fireball jutsu at the lake and how his father was pleased with him. He remembered the strength and pride that flowed through him to hear such a thing from his rather icy father. He wanted to hear his father's words of strength but couldn't thanks to his brother._

_But most of all, Sasuke wanted to hear his brother stand up for him. He wanted to be by Itachi's side. He just wanted to look at his older brother with kindness instead of hate. He didn't want to admit it but, Itachi's betrayal hurt the most; his own brother destroyed their family for power; nothing more, nothing less._

_Sasuke charged and Itachi tried to wield his sharingan when he felt a presence behind him, he turned slightly and disappeared letting the two Sasuke's intercept each other's attack. He didn't get the chance to look for Sasuke when Sasuke's chidori went straight through his chest._

_Sasuke stared Itachi in the eye as he pushed his lightning blade through his torso and out of the other side. Itachi's eyes widened for a brief second before he stared back into his brother's stare. A small smile of relief spread across his features as his sharingan melted into his regular coal eyes._

_Itachi coughed up blood as Sasuke ripped his arm out of his chest, blood oozing from the wound. The blood dripped down his shirt and onto the ground where it pooled. His knees crumbled from the aftershock of the attack and he fell to the ground._

_Sasuke stood mesmorized by his attack, he stared at his left hand, drenched in his brother's blood whiled glancing out of the corner of his eye, his brother start to fall._

_"Brother" Sasuke stammered as he caught Itachi before he hit the ground._

_Itachi groaned in pain and coughed up more blood as Sasuke laid him down._

_Unknowingly, tears fell down Sasuke's face and he tried to stop the bleeding. Watching his brother's face as he plunged his hand into his body broke Sasuke's feelings of revenge. _

_"Itachi, why? Why?" Sasuke asked trying to stop the inevitable. _

_Itachi stared at Sasuke and pried his hands away from his chest. He reached up and tore off his headband and nudged it to the side of his body. He took ragged breaths as he smiled, the same smile he would give Sasuke when they were younger; a brother's smile, "Brother," was all he could manage before Sasuke cut him off._

_"Why did you do it? Why? Why?" He cried staring at his brother's smiling face._

_"I was weak." Itachi stated._

_"What?"_

_"I was weak, that was my reason." Itachi rasped, more blood trickling down his face._

_"I don't understand, you were never weak!" Sasuke yelled._

_"Yes, I let Orochimaru take over my mind. I wanted power and the only way-" A fit of pain crossed Itachi's face as he clenched Sasuke's hands harder._

_"Itachi!" _

_"The only way he told me, was to kill them. I was a fool and listened."_

_"But, why me? Why didn't you kill me?" Sasuke asked thinking about Orochimaru's curse mark on his shoulder._

_"Because, you are my brother," he smiled faintly, "I couldn't kill you, even if I tried. You were the only one who could be strong." He replied as his skin grew cold and his eyes started to droop. _

_"Itachi-"Sasuke began, confused._

_"Sasuke, I was a fool. Listen to me, don't follow the same path I did," He wrenched out, "Just live your life."_

_"How? You took them all from me! You destroyed my life, my past, my future! You took everything from me!" Sasuke screeched._

_"No," Itachi stated taking in a long strained breath, "I didn't, you destroyed your own future."_

_Without a response from Sasuke Itachi continued, "I told you to harbour your hatred, not to destroy everything good thing you had in your life." He gasped out, breathing erratically. _

_"How did you expect me to act? What was I supposed to do?" Sasuke asked, thinking about how he left Sakura and tried to kill Naruto. He knew his brother was right, in some way, it wasn't Itachi's entire fault he messed everything up. He went of his own will to Orochimaru and he decided to break his bonds with his former teamates, Itachi had nothing to do with those decisions. _

_"Sasuke, what you've done now doesn't matter" Itachi rasped, his eyes starting to glaze over, "Stop being afraid to be happy." His body grew weak and more blood seeped through his lips._

_"Itachi, brother," Sasuke cried, "I'm so-"_

_"Don't," Itachi cut Sasuke off, "I'm sorry Sasuke. Go back, go home."_

_Sasuke stared at his brother's face as his eyes slowly close for the last time. He watched as his chest stopped moving up and down and settled with one last ragged breath. _

_"Brother, thank you" Itachi murmured._

_Sasuke repeated his brother's last words over and over in his head._

_'Brother, thank you.' _

_He did it, he killed him, his life long goal was complete. He could finally go back, he could go home._

_The thought stopped him dead. _

_'Home. What home do I have?' He thought about Konoha and his former team._

_'Would they even accept me? After everything I did?'_

_Naruto's ramen obsession along with Kakashi's perverted novel craze floated through his mind, as did a crying girl._

_'Sakura.' He thought._

_He looked down at his brother's dead body. He was gone, his last family member, dead at his own hands. Itachi was gone, Sasuke once again let a few tears roll down his face as he remembered Itachi's last smile. It was the same smile he gave him as a child, he finally was the brother Sasuke knew, and he killed him. _

_The feeling of guilt crept into his stomach, Itachi had killed everyone in their clan but, Sasuke couldn't shake his feeling that in some way, he had done the same. He killed his own brother. He destroyed his life just to become a monster in order to defeat him. _

_'What am I? What have I done?' _

Sasuke sat up thinking about his brother's last few words: 'Stop being afraid to be happy, brother thank you.'

Sasuke still felt guilty, even after a year, he couldn't get over his brother's death. It still hurt, he was the one he looked up to, the one who understood him, and the one he killed.

Sasuke brought a hand up to his heart, but was surprised to find a hand already in place. Sakura had her hand lying on his heart.

'Hn, just like always. She had her place in my heart from the beginning.' He thought as he placed his hand over hers.

"You were right Itachi, I found my home." He whispered falling back asleep.

Sakura awoke the next morning watching Sasuke sleep. She watched his even breathing as his bangs covered his face. She moved the hair away from his face and watched him take a long breath. Lying back down on his chest, she listened to the soft murmur of his heart.

'Sasuke, Naruto, and…' Her thoughts ran back to the other person from her team.

She noticed a picture on the nightstand next to the bed. It was a picture of Naruto and Sasuke glaring at each other with her big grin in between them. She smiled and saw the person missing from her memory.

"Kakashi-sensei." She said absent minded.

She traced over the frame with her finger tips as she tried to remember her old team mates and the memories of them.

Sakura didn't realize that Sasuke was leaning on his elbow watching her play with the old picture. He smiled as she continued to trace over the faces with her finger tips and smile to herself.

He decided to fully sit up, somewhat startling Sakura. She glanced back at him and smiled holding up the picture for him to see. He simply smiled and nodded.

"Ka-"Sasuke started pointing to their old sensei when Sakura cut him off.

"Kakashi-sensei, I remember," She smiled again as she placed the picture back down on the dresser.

'She remembers us. Finally.' Sasuke sighed as he laid back down pulling Sakura down with him.

She settled down into the crook of his neck, taking in his scent. She breathed deeply as Sasuke laid his cheek on her head. He thought again about Itachi's last words and was thankful that he got a second chance, even if he would have to work for it. He finally would get the life he wanted with Sakura, all they needed was some time.

He chuckled to himself, 'We have all the time in the world.'

"Sakura," Sakura was resting her eyes when Sasuke's voice broke through the silence.

"Hmm?" She murmured half asleep.

"We should go get you some clothes," he said noticing she was still in his shirt and pants. 'Even if I do like them on you,' he thought suggestively.

"Okay," she replied simply, Sasuke thought she also sighed and smirked.

Sasuke sat up, taking Sakura with him. She yawned as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and ruffled his hair. He looked over towards Sakura still sitting on the bed, looking as if she would fall back asleep any second. He laughed quietly as she quirked an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied.

"What? Why are you laughing?" She said through a yawn.

"Tired?"

She only stared wide eyed at him than giggled along with him. As soon as she laughed she felt herself being picked up and whisked down the stairs.

"What are you doing?" She asked holding onto Sasuke's neck.

"It's already 11:45, we have to get going," he nonchalantly replied.

"I can walk Sasuke," she shyly added, a blush creeping along her cheeks.

"Yeah," he smirked, "I know."

Sasuke didn't bother with a breakfast and just settled on passing by the ramen shop for lunch. He put Sakura down after she insisted on walking once they got outside.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah?"

"Did you really mean what you said?"

"What?" He questioned stopping in front her and turning around.

"That you loved me?" She stared at the ground, playing with the hem of his shirt, trying to hide her blush.

"Sakura," Sasuke walked over to her and placed his hands on her face, "I meant it, I do love you."

She smiled as she spoke, "I love you too."

"Yeah, I've kind of known that." He smirked remembering her back in their genin days.

"…?" He stared at him placing her hands over his.

"Ah, nothing, " he replied smiling. He watched as she looked into his eyes, he knew she was searching for something. Something about her herself in his eyes, she was trying to remember everything. He looked at her face, she'd matured, after four years; she changed a lot. Her face showed her maturity and her eyes showed her pain. Her hair grew out and was tied back with a loose pony tail. She still held a skinny frame but had lean muscles from her training. Even after a year of not being a shinobi she still looked like it.

'Probably trying to wrestle that sick bastard off of her was a work out.' He thought bitterly.

"Sasuke," Sakura whispered breaking his thoughts. She raised a hand to his cheek and ran her finger tips over the side of his face to his eye. He closed his eyes as she put both hands up over his eyes.

'What is she doing?' Sasuke thought, secretly enjoying the feeling.

'His eyes. There's something about them, something.' Sakura thought trying to remember his sharingan.

"Sasuke?"

"Hmm?" he moaned.

"Your eyes, I don't remember it well but, there's something-"

"Sharingan." He replied simply with her hands still over his eyes, "It's the sharingan."

'Is that it? I know that word, why? What is the sharingan? Why do I feel like I've seen it before?'

"Can you show it to me?" She asked frowning.

"…yes," he replied slowly removing her hands from his eyes.

He opened his eyes to her stunned face. He held her small hands within his own and stared at her. She slightly gasped as her eyes widened. She pulled one of her hands from his and traced his face again. She ran her hand down to where the curse mark was and pulled his shirt collar down so she could see it. Sasuke was too shocked to move at her boldness. He stopped as he was going to push her away when he realized something, 'She remembers Orochimaru, damn.'

'This mark, it's because of those eyes, that man, that's why he left.' She thought as she ran her fingers over the mark.

"This," she stuttered, tears gathering in her eyes, "This is why you left."

"Yes," He said, his sharingan fading.

"Sasuke," she said with anger returning to he face, "was it worth it?" she bit out, startling Sasuke.

There was so much emotion behind her eyes, he knew she was remembering all of the pain he had put her through. Scratch that, he knew she still had that pain and just now, remembered why. She had been in pain ever since he left, and no amount of amnesia erased it. He felt as though someone had punched him the gut.

"Sakura-"

"Don't, just tell me, was it worth it?" She yelled pulling away from him.

"No," he couldn't figure out why she was still mad until he saw her clutching her side like she had done when she broke the dish.

"When did you come back?" She cried with terror in her eyes.

"Sakura-"

"Oi Sasuke! Sakura!" Sasuke was interrupted when Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and Tsunade walked up behind him.

"Hey Sasuke, Sakura!" Naruto smiled at Sakura who was still shaking in fear with tears, "Oi, Sasuke, what did you do?" He grew angry and pushed past Sasuke to get to Sakura.

He reached out to touch her hand when she flinched away, "Get away from me!" She yelled looking back to Sasuke who just clenched his fists and looked down, "When did you get back?!" she screamed again.

"A year ago," he whispered.

"Sasuke, what's going on here?" Kakashi asked trying to approach Sakura.

"Ha-" Sai tried to speak when Tsunade glared at him.

'A year ago but, then, why didn't they come for me, why didn't he come for me?' She thought bitterly remembering her 'master' and shivered.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked still inching closer to her.

"Why?" She muttered, "Why?"

"Why what? Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

She backed away from them and looked up, "Why didn't you come for me?" she yelled.

Naruto and Kakashi were taken aback, as was Sasuke who just stood there, not moving.

"Sakura," Naruto started as Sai and Tsunade looked over to the trembling girl.

"Why! Why did you leave me with him?!" She cried out still backing up. Tears soaked Sasuke's shirt as she shuffled back still holding onto the hem and clutching her side.

"Sakura, we, we-" Kakashi stuttered.

"Why didn't you help me?" She asked as Naruto's started to let tears fall, "Didn't you care about me?"

The last comment was a blow to Sasuke, after all of this she thought they had left her to die, left her because they didn't care what happened to her, she thought they hated her. He thought back to the day when she begged him to stay and thought he hated her; he thought back to the day she saw him try to kill Naruto and how she looked at him with such fear and pain.

She stopped moving and stared at the faces of her former friends.

"We cared, Sakura," Sai replied steadily.

"No you didn't! No you never cared! You left me with him! You just left me to die! You left me all alone with him! With him!" She yelled, "You let him do that, you let him, him," she mumbled.

"Sakura, what did he do to you?" Kakashi asked simply.

"You let him hurt me! I couldn't do anything! You let him! You left me with him, you never cared, you just cared about _him_!" Sakura pointed at Sasuke who looked at her face with widened eyes. Kakashi took a step back as Naruto propelled forward towards Sakura.

"Sakura, that's not-"

"Yes it is! You all never cared about me! You just left me after _he_ came back! You didn't even try to find me!" She yelled still staring at Sasuke.

"Sakura, please," Tsunade started.

"No! Just leave me alone! Just leave me alone!" She screamed wide eyed in terror remembering her 'maser' torturing her. She remembered how she screamed hoping someone would hear her and come save her, someone, anyone, but, no one ever did. She still remembered her 'master's' face as she did so. He just laughed and caused her more pain. No one saved her, no one came, and no one cared, she forced herself to believe. "Sakura, we're not leaving you alone!" Tsunade shouted.

"Why? You did before." She said through her tears.

Sai seemed to even show shock on his face. Tsunade stepped back as Naruto still tried to approach Sakura.

"Sakura, please, we're never going to leave you alone, ple-"

"I think it's a little late for that!" she spat.

"Sakura, please, listen to us!" Kakashi said.

"No! Just stay away from me! Just go away!" She yelled, running away from them.

"Sakura! Wait!" Naruto yelled as he started running after her. Kakashi yelled after Naruto as Tsunade followed with tears streaming down her face.

Sai started to go after them when he stopped and turned around to Sasuke, "Aren't you going after her?" he asked.

"Why? She hates me," he replied slowly, "and she should."

"Wha-"

"Sai! Sasuke! Let's go!" Naruto yelled. Sai turned around and sighed running towards the voice as Sasuke stayed behind.

'I'm sorry Sakura, I'm so sorry." Sasuke thought looking up towards the sky.

* * *

Well, i got a review saying that Sakura should've yelled at Sasuke more, so here, she did. I like it. I like this chappie but that's just me. I would like this to acutally happen but it probably won't in the manga, Sasuke can be a jerk sometimes. Oh well, that's my reason and description of Itachi's death, it was sort of weak but i just like the fact he gave Sasuke some advice. Kind of brotherly don't you think? Oh well, poor Sasuke, and Sakura.

Read and REVIEW! I love the feed back, i think i will be starting a new story soon, i think it's either going to be a Neji Sakura or Deidara Sakura, i don't know, let me know in your reviews.

Please and Thank you!

Slyvia! Thanks for the Reviews, keep em' a coming! See ya!


	6. Stand In The Rain

Hey all, it's Slyvia,

Here's the next chappie, i love the reviews, keep them coming, i'm glad you all like my story so far! Ths chapter is fluffy but its cute, at least i think, here it is! I hope you all enjoy it! Tell me in your reviews! I love you guys, thank you!

* * *

Sakura continued to run and cry; she couldn't stop. So many emotions ran through her mind. Her 'master' continuously told her that she was abandoned and no one wanted her. He told her everyday that her friends hated her and were glad that she had been taken. Her 'master' always said he was the only one who cared about her.

'Was he right?' Sakura thought still running. She ran into the forest out side of Konoha's gates, unaware of where she was going. She ran as the sky above her thundered and rain started to fall. Her clothes were soaked but she still ran. She ran through the pain in her feet and legs, she just wanted to get away, to be alone. Alone, she knew the word well. She only knew loneliness.

"Sakura! Sakura! Where are you?!" Naruto called out into the forest. Kakashi's hound dogs had tracked her scent that far.

"Oi, Kakashi," Pakkun started, "I can't track her in this weather."

"Sakura," Kakashi nodded sadly, remembering her words.

_"You never cared, you only cared about him!" Sakura yelled pointing at Sasuke._

'I'm sorry Sakura,' Kakashi thought, he knew she was right. Over the years he paid more attention to Naruto and Sasuke, he figured she was alright. When she started training with Tsunade he thought it was for the best, he never knew how she really felt. He never knew she just wanted his attention. He smiled sadly at the thought, as smart of a shinobi that he was, he couldn't detect how alone she felt in Team 7. Even with Naruto and Sasuke, she still felt like an outsider, never quite belonging. She just masked everything under her smile.

"I'm sorry for that Sakura, I'm sorry," Kakashi muttered turning around and heading back to Konoha's gate.

* * *

"Sakura! Sakura!" Naruto continued to call out running into the forest. He cried as he thought about how she yelled at them. He didn't know what that bastard did to her but, he never thought she felt that way.

'We abandoned her. She was crying and suffering because of that sick bastard and we never saved her. I left her, I couldn't save you Sakura. I didn't.' Naruto thought as he stopped in a clearing, hearing Yamato's shouts from behind him. He started to cry as Yamato caught up to him.

"Naruto?" He questioned.

"We really screwed up this time, didn't we." Naruto sobbed as Yamato looked into the soaked forest.

"Yeah, we did," he replied leading Naruto back into Konoha.

* * *

"Stupid Uchiha, he's not even helping us," Sai muttered as the rain soaked through his clothes.

Sai had run into the forest a different way from Naruto and continued to push back the wet trees, trying to spot out his teamate.

'Sakura, where are you?' Sai thought reaching back into his sack and touching one of his drawing pens.

Sakura had always asked to see his paintings but, he never showed her and instead was punched in the face for making some comment on her being ugly. He regretted not letting her see his art when he found out she was gone. He regretted being mean to her after Naruto came back saying they couldn't find anything but her bloody headband. He had a hard time with his feelings around everyone but, when it came to his friends, he couldn't control them. Everything would flood into this mind and heart, every emotion and he couldn't stop them. Sakura had been there for him, and he felt sadness when he couldn't be there for her, when she needed him the most.

Sai looked out into the forest and stopped; he couldn't see much with the incessant rain pouring down and sighed. He couldn't find her, not in this at least. He turned around and went to join the others back at the gate.

* * *

Everyone stood at the gate, drenched and all with sorrowful expressions. They all stood silently as Sai was the last one to come back. Tsunade started to lightly cry when she saw that Sakura wasn't with him.

"We couldn't find anything, her trail's gone," Kakashi stated looking at Naruto who only shook in anger.

"What if we got Hinata or Neji? They could see something," Yamato said trying to uplift everyone's spirits.

"Hinata's out on a mission," Tsunade stated through clenched teeth, "and Neji is still recovering after his mission besides, it would take too much time."

"Hey, where's Sasuke?" Sai asked out of the blue, looking towards Naruto and Kakashi.

* * *

Sakura ran until she fell against a large weeping willow tree. She sat as close to the trunk as she could to keep from getting wet. She brought her knees up to her body and laid her head down and cried.

She listened as the rain continued to pour down and form puddles. She listened to the quiet hum of the rain as the droplets danced on the tree leaves and fell everywhere.

Sakura thought about how torn she felt inside, she didn't mean to yell at everyone like that but, she couldn't help it. She felt too betrayed to not say anything. She felt isolated and rejected. She wondered why they didn't come and try harder to save her. She couldn't understand why they didn't search for her; why they had just given up. The thunder rumbled the earth beneath her as she continued to sob into her knees. She didn't know what to do, all she could think of was how scared she was.

'What am I supposed to do? I don't have anywhere to go, I don't have a home.' She thought.

"Sakura?" A voice broke through the rain as a figure walked towards her.

"Stay away from me!" She yelled standing up. She turned to run away when the figure grabbed her elbow and pulled her back.

"Stop! Let me go! Let me-"her cries were muffled as she was pulled against a hard chest.

"Sakura," the figure said her name again as she lifted her head to look at the face.

* * *

"So what are we supposed to do? She's out there in the pouring rain! We can't leave her!" Naruto shouted.

"I know that Naruto!" Tsunade screeched back, "That's why I sent Shizune to gather as many shinobi she could!"

"That's not going to help, we need-"Yamato started.

"I know, I told her to bring Neji," Tsunade replied staring into the forest.

"But I thought you said he was injured?" Kakashi questioned.

"This is an emergency," Tsunade replied bluntly.

"Tsunade sama! Tsunade sama!" Shizune yelled with several figures trailing behind her.

"Shizune!" Tsunade yelled, "We have to find Sakura!"

"Right, Tsunade sama," Shizune replied.

"Didn't think you'd come," Sai said as Shikamaru stepped up.

"Ah, we all came," He replied looking over his shoulder at the other shinobi that followed.

Sai followed Shikamaru's gaze and saw every one of the old genin squads, save for a few who were on missions. Ino and Choji stood behind Shikamaru as Kurenai took Asuma's place next to them. Gai and Lee stood over with TenTen and shouted euphemisms of the spirit of youth as TenTen walked away with an irritated face. Neji stood next to Tsunade and activated his Byakugan and was searching for Sakura.

"Oi Neji! Neji!" Naruto yelled shaking Neji.

"Stop it Naruto," Neji commanded.

"Can you see her? Neji! Can you find Sakura!" Naruto continued to shake Neji's arm.

"I can't find her," Neji stated as everyone looked at him, "This rain and forest is too dense."

"What?! You have to try again, you have to find her!" Ino shouted inching forward.

"Ino," Shikamaru said grabbing her arm.

"Let me go Shikamaru! Neji, you have to try again!" She continued to yell as Neji looked towards the ground.

"Oi, you troublesome woman, your shouting isn't going to help," Shikamaru stated pulling Ino back.

"Shikamaru's right, we can't do much in this weather," TenTen stated looking over to Neji.

"I'm sorry Naruto but, I can't see anything," Neji sighed placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"But, but-"

"Naruto, there's nothing we can do now," Kakashi said never taking his eyes off of the forest, "We just have to wait until morning."

"She might even come back," Jiraiya added leaning against the gate.

"Uh, Sai?" Lee asked walking over to the sopping wet artist, "Where's Sasuke?"

"Tch, I don't know, he never came with us to look for her," Sai replied bitterly.

Lee stood dumbfounded and just accepted Sai's answer and walked back over to Gai.

"But-" Naruto said looking at the soaking we faces of his friends, "Neji, can you just look one more time?" Naruto pleaded with tears in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'll try," Neji replied, "Byakugan!"

Neji scanned the area as best he could. He looked as far as he could, not seeing anything but trees and the occasional animal running for shelter from the rain.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I still can't find her," Neji replied.

"We'll resume the search in the morning!" Tsunade bellowed as all the ninja nodded in agreement, "Go home and get some rest."

"Don't worry Naruto," Kakashi said as the rest of the shinobi started walking home, "We'll find her."

"Yeah, I hope so," Naruto replied as he started his walk home.

* * *

"Get away from me Sasuke! Leave me alone!" Sakura continued to scream pounding on his chest, trying to escape his grasp.

"Sakura, stop it!" Sasuke said as he grabbed both of her flailing arms, "Stop."

"No! Just let me go," She whispered letting her knees give out and fall onto the ground.

"Sakura, please listen to me," Sasuke commanded sinking to his knees with her.

"…."

"Sakura, I-"

"Why didn't you come for me?" She asked cutting him off and looking into his eyes.

"Sakura, everyone thought you were dead," He replied.

"But why didn't you try to find me? Didn't you care?" She asked simply.

"Sakura, I'm sorry, I didn't… I couldn't…" He trailed off not knowing what he was trying to say.

"You left me, you all did, and _he_ told me you didn't care." She started to cry again, "He was-"

Before he finished Sasuke grabbed the sides of her face and made her look into his eyes, "No he wasn't right! We cared, we still do, Sakura, why can't you understand that?" He asked holding back his anger.

"Because," She pulled her face out of his grasp, "you left me that night. I wasn't good enough to make you stay!" She screamed backing away from him.

"Sakura-"

"You never even tried to look for me, you just gave up! You gave up on me!" She screamed, "So why should I believe you?"

"Sakura, I don't know," He responded looking at the ground.

"…" She stared back at him, watching him clench his fists and shake.

"I don't know why you should believe me but, all I do know is that we all love you… I love you," He said the last part quietly looking into her eyes.

"Why?" She asked, stopping her movements.

"Because," he stated crawling over to her position and taking her face into his hands, "because you never gave up on me." He breathed placing his forehead against hers.

"Sasuke, I-"

"Sakura, I promised you I would never hurt you again and I always keep my promises," Sasuke smiled as he pressed his lips against her cheek.

He half expected her to yell at him and run away but, she didn't. Instead she placed her small hands on his arms and leaned towards him.

"Sasuke, I'm, I'm sorry," She cried.

"No, don't be," he whispered.

"Sasuke?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you," She smiled.

"For what?" He asked as she pulled out of his hold.

"For not giving up," She responded placing a hand on his cheek.

He smiled. A true smile found its way onto his face, one only for her. He never felt like smiling but, for her, he would. Whenever she wanted or needed it, he would smile as long as he had her.

"Sasuke, I love you too,"

He smiled again and softly pressed his lips to hers. She accepted his kiss and smiled into it. A stray tear ran down her face as his warm hand wiped it away. He poured all of his love, trust, and hope for a better life with her into that kiss. He hoped she could feel it, find it in her heart to believe him and be with him.

She did, she felt his pain and suffering along with his happiness and love in his kiss. She responded with just as much emotion as he gave her.

Sasuke broke the kiss and caressed her face as she continued to smile at him, "Come on Sakura," he said softly, "let's go home."

She nodded as Sasuke picked her up and carried her back into Konoha. Sakura put her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his shoulder. Sasuke smiled and held her as close to his body as he could as he walked. He decided to take the long way back to Konoha.

* * *

"I see them," Neji smiled.

"Them?" Naruto said dumfounded still hanging onto Neji's arm from pestering him.

"Yes, Sakura," Neji trailed off, "and Sasuke." He turned off his Byakugan and turned to Naruto, "She's fine Naruto."

'It's about damn time Uchiha,' Neji thought as he smirked and turned back to see Lee jumping up and down screaming something about youth.

Everyone let out an exasperated sigh as Naruto took in as much breath as he could, "SAKURA! SAKURA!" He screamed as everyone covered their ears.

"Oi, dickless wonder! Shut up!" Sai yelled walking over to Naruto and hitting him on the head.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura walked through the forest as they laughed at Naruto's voice.

"Dobe never shuts up," Sasuke smirked.

Sakura giggled as they heard Sai call Naruto dickless.

"Some things never change," She said receiving a shocked look from Sasuke.

Before he could say anything she smiled and nodded.

'She remembers us, she remembers,' he thought happily to himself.

* * *

"What did you call me?!" Naruto screamed, his voice echoing through the forest.

"Dickless," Sai replied simply.

"Why you!" Naruto started to charge when he was grabbed from behind by Kakashi.

"Alright Naruto, that's enough," Kakashi lazily spoke.

"He called me dickless! You idiot, I'm going to kill you!" Naruto continued to scream until he heard Shizune's voice.

"Tsunade sama, here they come!" Everyone followed her voice as Sasuke walked up to the group holding Sakura. They both were laughing as they looked at Naruto.

"Eh? What's so funny?" Naruto asked stopping his yelling.

"Tch dobe, we could hear you all the way in the forest," Sasuke laughed.

Sakura only laughed as Naruto stared at her smile.

'I missed that smile. Sakura, I missed you,' He thought as he ran towards Sasuke.

"Woah! Hold on Naruto! Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as Naruto crashed into him, trying to take Sakura out of his hold. Unfortunately Naruto lost his balance and fell on top of Sasuke.

"Sakura! I'm sorry! Please don't leave again! Sakura I missed you so much! Sakura!" He yelled as he continued to hug her body.

"Naruto? Naruto?! Naruto?!" Someone yelled into Naruto's ear as Naruto kept mumbling about how much he loved Sakura and missed her.

"NARUTO!" Naruto's face followed the voice to the body he was hugging.

"It's nice you miss Sakura so much but, could you please stop hugging me!" Sasuke yelled trying to pry the number one knuckle headed ninja off of him.

"Eh?" Naruto sat wide eyed.

"Tch, dobe, Sakura's over there!" Sasuke pointed as Sakura sat next to Sasuke smiling. She looked at Sasuke's annoyed face and Naruto's wide eyed stare and started to laugh.

"Tch, idiot!" Sasuke yelled hitting Naruto over the head.

Soon everyone joined in the laughter, even emotionless Sai.

"Oi dickless!" Sai shouted over the laughs of the ninja.

"Sai- hey wait, what did you say?!" Naruto yelled getting up and putting up a fist up to Sai's face.

Sai only gave his smile and pointed to Sakura who was still laughing. With an elated gaze Naruto ran over and tackled her, hugging and squeezing the life out of her.

"Sakura! I missed you so much! I missed you!" He continued to yell as Sakura hugged him back then started choking for air.

"Naruto! Thank you…. But…. Could you please…. Let go!... I can't breathe!" She tried to pry him off of her but he continued to hug her to death.

"Dickless!" Sai yelled.

"Dobe!" Sasuke yelled at the same time, both turning to look at each other and smirking.

"Oi, Dickless!" Sasuke shouted.

"Dobe!" Sai yelled making Naruto stop hugging Sakura.

"What did you call me?!" Naruto screeched.

"She can't breathe!" Tsunade yelled running over and pounding him on the head.

Sakura only laughed as Sai and Sasuke traded insults and Naruto begged for Kakashi to help and make them stop.

Sakura laughed as she thought, 'I'm not alone anymore, I'm home."

"Home" she spoke softly, 'I like that thought,' she sighed looking over at Sasuke.

"Don't get too comfortable Sakura," Two yellow eyes watched from the forest at the laughing girl, "You'll be home with me soon." He chuckled as he dissapeared.

* * *

Dun dun DUN!

What'll happen next! Find out on next week's episode! Just kidding !

I love the reviews, keep em' cominng, i love this story too. Sasuke is WAY OOC but still, i think he could be like that in the manga and anime once he kills his brother, i hope he and Sakura get together, they are SO cute!

Well tell me what you think, this chapter is mainly fluff, but come on, Sakura deserves it! I will be writing a Neji and Sakura fic soon, I LOVE Neji, he's really funny so i think it will be cool.

Well, see ya soon!

Thanks for the reviews, i appreciate them!

Slyvia!


	7. Broken Love

Slyvia Here,

Hey, I just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of my reviewers! I love you guys! You really do keep me going! I can't wait for your next comments! Okay so this chappie has a small lemon but nothing too bad, you also find out what the guy's name is who kidnapped Sakura! Dundundun! The next chappie he will finally make his real appearance, this is also a somewhat sad chappie but enjoy! Reveiw!

Here is the next chapter!

* * *

"Sakura, we should go home," Sasuke said as he and Neji pulled an energetic Lee and Naruto off of her.

"Okay," Sakura sighed, suppressing a yawn.

Sasuke turned around to leave when he heard Sakura start to speak.

"Um, everyone, I'm-"

"No," Naruto said firmly as everyone stared at him.

"No, Sakura," Naruto trailed, "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. Everything you said, it was right except for one thing."

"..?" Sakura looked up to see Naruto's blue eyes glistening with tears as he took her hand in his.

"We never stopped thinking about you," He said as he cradled her hand.

Sakura looked around at the sympathetic faces of her sensei's and friends. They smiled and nodded as Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll always be here for you Sakura," Kakashi droned out, smiling beneath his mask.

"Yeah," Sakura said shakily, "I know that now."

* * *

Everyone smiled and waved good bye as Sasuke walked Sakura back to his home.

'Take care of her Sasuke,' Naruto thought as he watched the two of them walk back, 'You got a second chance, don't screw it up.' Naruto sighed as Kakashi, Sai and Yamato came up beside him.

"You think she'll remember everything?" Sai asked Yamato.

"I think she will," Yamato smiled, "It'll just take some time."

"Naruto," Kakashi nudged his former student, "Don't worry about her, Sasuke will protect her."

"But-"

"He's not going to lose her again," Kakashi cut in.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Naruto looked down at the ground.

"Naruto?" Yamato asked as Naruto still had his face glued to the ground.

"Let's get," Naruto trailed off, "RAMEN!" he screeched and jumped for joy as the three shinobi next to him quickly disappeared.

Naruto turned around only to see smoke fill the area and yelled out, "Oh come on guys! Don't do this! I want some ramen!"

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura arrived back at Sasuke's home hand in hand. Both walked in the door and trudged up the stairs to Sasuke's bedroom as Sakura yawned.

Sakura laid down on the bed as Sasuke laid next to her, propped up on his elbow. He stared intently down at her as she reached up and touched his face. Leaning into her touch, he wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her closer.

"Sasuke," she whispered as she let her hand fall.

He pulled her to his chest and rubbed her back as she started to fall asleep.

'She looks so peaceful,' Sasuke thought as they cuddled under the covers, 'I'll make up for what I did in the past Sakura, I promise you.'

"Sakura," Sasuke asked as she snuggled into his chest.

"Hmm?" she mumbled into his body.

"We still need to buy you some clothes."

She laughed as he kissed the top of her forehead and closed his own eyes.

* * *

_"No! Stop! Please, let me go! Please! Stop!" Sakura screamed as she was continually beaten._

_"Shut up! You're so annoying! Stop you're crying! They're never coming for you! They hate you! No one would love a weakling of a woman like you!" her 'master' continued to shout as he kicked her in the side._

_She was flung across the room by his kick and crashed into the wall, clutching her left side. She coughed as blood stuck in her throat. Vomit and blood sputtered everywhere as she wheezed and shook with fear._

_He approached closer and grabbed her hair, yanking her into his grasp, "You little whore! Calling out someone else's name in front of me! I will beat you until you call out mine!" He cursed as he threw her face first into the wall._

_"Say my name!" He screamed as he bent down and picked her up by her throat, squeezing it._

_"Sasuke! Sasuke!" Sakura cried, scratching the man before her._

_Her 'master' grunted as he thrashed her back against the wall._

Cracked skull.

_He dropped her for a second before punching her in the stomach and back into the wall. _

Shattered ribs.

_"What's my name?" He leered as he looked down at her form, writhing on the ground. His red hair pasted against his face from sweat and yellow eyes glaring._

_'I know this name; I have to keep calling it! He wouldn't be so angry if it wasn't important, this name must mean something! Help me, Sasuke, whoever you are!' Sakura thought as she felt another blow to her side._

_"Sasuke! Sasuke help me! Sasuke!" Sakura cried as she was again lifted up by her hair._

_"You little bitch, you must really be stupid; no one can hear you! Say my name!" He yelled into her ear as she continued to thrash around in his hands. _

_She panted as she screamed and brought her elbow back into his stomach, "Sasuke! Sasuke! Please, help me! Sasuke!"_

_With as sudden jolt his grip on her hair loosened and she rant towards the door of his bedroom. She didn't get far though, he grabbed the back shoulder strap of her dress, tearing it, and spun her around. He punched her in the face as she fell to the side, holding her bleeding mouth. _

Broken jaw

"_Say my name!" He screeched as he pushed her against the wall._

_"No," She spat trying to get out of his hold._

_"Fine, have it your way," her 'master' smiled as he took out a dull kunai, one that she forgot to sharpen that morning and ran it across the side of her face, "I wonder how long it will take to break you," he whispered running his lips over the trail of his kunai._

_"…." She shook with fear and tried to push his face away from his._

_"I guess we'll just have to find out, my Sakura chan," His eyes flashed as he pressed the kunai against her side._

_He pressed harder under the dull blade cut into her skin. The pain was unimaginable, her skin sagged under the blade's pressure, wearing down the skin until it finally broke through. Sakura screamed as he pulled the knife and looked at some of her blood dripping from its tip. _

_He laughed as he plunged it into her side again and left it embedded. Blood poured down her side as she realized it had gone through the last of her ribs. _

_"Say my name," He whispered in her ear, "and I'll let you go."_

_"No," She gasped as he ran his hand down to the kunai and started twisting it around._

_"Say my name you little wench!" He yelled as he pulled it out and stabbed her in the same spot again, giving a large jerk upward._

_"Sasuke! Sasuke! Please, help me! Stop! Please!" She screeched as he pulled out another, sharpened, kunai and raised her hand._

_"That's not my name Sakura," He growled and pierced his kunai straight through his hand into the wall. She shrieked in pain and tried to use her fingers to grab the blade, only succeeding in adding to the pain. _

_"Stop! Please! Stop!" She screamed as her raised her other hand and put anther kunai into the palm._

Broken hands.

_"Say my name and the pain will go away," He mouthed against the side of her neck._

_'I can't let him win! I have to be strong, someone will hear me, someone will come, someone will save me!' Sakura thought as she spit blood into his face. _

_"You little bitch, I'll kill you!" He screamed as he rammed another kunai into her ribs, this time he stuck the blade at an angle and used it as a crowbar to shift her rib cage. She screamed in agony as he pushed the blade further up into her ribcage and laughed._

_"Say my name Sakura," He said sweetly watching her once white dress become soaked with her blood._

Ripped muscles

_"Kitaro," Sakura muttered._

_"What was that Sakura?" He asked as he applied anther kunai into the hole he had created._

_She shrieked in pain and screamed his name, "Kitaro! Kitaro! Kitaro! Stop it! Please!" She yelled as he smiled and removed one of the kunai in her hands._

_"That's better, now, clean up, I want my dinner," He smirked as her other hand was still pinned to the wall._

_She slouched as he walked out to the room and turned to her._

_"Don't ever say that name again," he growled as he slammed the door._

Broken bones, broken limbs, broken spirit, and broken heart.

* * *

"Sakura! Sakura! Wake up! Sakura! Sakura!" Sasuke yelled trying to pull Sakura out of her nightmare.

"Sakura!" He continued to yell as she opened her eyes, trembling with fear.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked as she brought her hands to her face and ran them down to her stomach and side.

'What is she doing?' Sasuke thought quirking his head to the side.

"Blood, blood, he…blood…Sasuke," Sakura shook as Sasuke enveloped her into his embrace.

"Sssshh, Sakura, it's alright," Sasuke whispered.

Sakura shook in his arms, crying and muttering over and over again. Sasuke rubbed her back and arms and softly kissed her cheek. At his kiss she flinched away and clenched her eyes shut, clutching her ribs with both arms.

"Please, just don't-"

"Sakura, look at me," Sasuke said grabbing the sides of her face, "Look at me." He spoke softly and yet forceful.

She reluctantly opened her eyes to his dark brooding ones. He had no shirt on and sat in his pants holding onto her face. Tears continued to fall down her face as his thumbs rubbed them away.

"Sakura, what was-"

Before he could continue Sakura held onto his arms and started shaking again, "It was a nightmare Sasuke! He kept stabbing me and told me to stop, I didn't and he just stabbed me again!" She cried.

"Who?"

"Him, Kitaro, he just yelled at me and told me to say his name! I didn't and he cut me, he just hurt me! He just wouldn't stop, he wouldn't stop, he hurt so much!" she screamed and started to whisper and sob repeating the same thing over and over again.

'Kitaro? That must be that bastard. I'll kill him.' Sasuke thought as he raised Sakura tear drenched face up.

"Sakura it's okay, he won't hurt you anymore, I promised. I won't let him." Sasuke bit out through clenched teeth.

'Why would he stab her? Why? What was she yelling?' Sasuke wondered as Sakura's voice trembled.

"Sasuke…"

'I'll kill that bastard, for what he did to her, I'll kill him. Sakura, I promise,' Sasuke vowed as he furrowed his brows, raising his courage to ask his next question.

"Sakura, why was he hurting you?"

Her eyes froze over in fear as she dug her nails into his arms and shut her eyes. He could tell she was trying to forget, trying to hide the pain she had suffered through, trying to define a dream versus reality.

She was trying to see her nightmare as only that but, she couldn't. It happened and her repeated clutching of her ribs was a reminder. She had to remind herself, no matter what; she had to stay in reality.

She couldn't fall into fear again, she had to, wanted to be strong: Strong for Konoha, strong for Sasuke and strong for herself.

"I was screaming for someone," she whispered slowly raising her eyes to meet his.

"Who?"

She hesitated on her answer before looking down again and whispering, "You."

Sasuke stared at her for a moment before she started crying again.

"Why were you screaming my name?" He asked dumbfounded.

"I remembered it but, he told me to only say his name," She look angrily down at the bed and dropped her hands from his arms. She clenched her fists as she spoke again, "I couldn't stand the pain and I said his name, he made me. I gave up, I-"

"No," Sasuke cut her off taking her hands into his, "You didn't give up, if you hadn't done what he asked you'd be dead."

"I should've died," she muttered until Sasuke jerked her hands around him and crushed her into his chest.

"Stop it," he growled, "just stop it, you made the right choice. You had to save your life."

She struggled against his grip to see his face but lost when he tightened his hold.

"I wasn't strong enough, I couldn't stop-"

"Listen to me Sakura, you are strong. You're strong for surviving what he did to you-"

"No, I was scared! He kept hurting me and I let him! I couldn't stop him! If I did it just made it worse! I was scared and did what he wanted! I was scared of him." She shouted pounding on Sasuke's arms.

"I was scared," He started surprising Sakura who stopped her movements, "I was scared that you were dead, that I wouldn't see you again and tell you I was sorry. I was scared that the only person who believed and loved me was gone." Sasuke held onto her tighter.

"Sasuke," Sakura whispered, "I was weak."

"No you weren't, you were never weak." He replied curtly.

"Fear is a weakness," Sakura said bitterly remembering how when her 'master' saw the fear in her eyes he would say that. He always saw the fear and terror behind her eyes and used it. He made sure she would always be afraid of him, no matter what.

"No it's not. It's strength; you overcame your fear of him and came home." Sasuke rubbed her back again as he felt her muscles loosen.

"I'm still scared Sasuke," Sakura confessed.

"He can't hurt you anymore Sakura, I won't let him," Sasuke kissed her forehead.

"Sasuke,"

"Sakura, I won't let him hurt you anymore, I told you already, you're safe here…with me," He answered pulling away to look into her eyes.

The moonlight reflected from her green eyes as the tears glistened in the corners. She, without hesitation, smiled at him. She saw his sincerity in his eyes, his love for her and she gave him his smile, the smile only reserved for him. She cried as his hard eyes made her feel safe, she hadn't felt that in a long time. She pressed her lips to his, still smiling.

Sasuke smiled as he held her face in his hands and kissed her back. He deepened the kiss as one of his hands travelled behind to her neck and the other down her arm.

Sakura flinched in fear of his hand down her arm but relaxed as his soft hands guided her down onto the bed.

Sakura's hands slid up to Sasuke's chest and ran over his shoulders as he continued their kiss. Her soft fingers glided down from his shoulder blades to the middle of his chest.

"Sakura," Sasuke breathed as he broke their kiss and stared into her eyes. He ran a finger down the side of her face leaning over her body.

Sakura smiled and reached around his neck, pulling him down on top of her. She kissed him again and let a tear roll down her face.

Sasuke ran his hands down to the hem of her shirt and slowly lifted it up, carefully dragging his hands over her stomach. Her body tingled at his touch until he pulled her shirt off in one languid pull, looking into her eyes.

He went back to her lips with a small kiss before making his way to her jaw and neck. Running his lips down her neck he massaged her waist.

"Sasuke," Sakura sighed as his lips travelled down to her collar bone. He ran his hands back up the sides of her body and let his tongue dance on her skin as his hot breathed sent shivers through her body.

Sakura let her nimble fingers play in his hair as he continued to move across her body.

Sasuke reached around her chest and undid the bindings. He let them fall and stopped as he felt her body tense. She tried to cover herself and Sasuke only smiled and pulled her hands away.

"It's okay Sakura, I won't-" Sasuke stopped when Sakura looked down, ashamed.

"No, it's not that, it's," She sighed and removed her arms from her chest and guided his eyes to her chest, "my scars," she whispered.

'This is what she's been hiding, that bastard, this is what he did to her!' Sasuke thought angrily as he looked at the old wounds.

Fading jagged lines adorned her skin beneath her chest and stomach.

'Kunai,' Sasuke thought as he ran his hand over the scars. He saw Sakura clench her eyes shut and realized that the wounds still hurt, not physically but mentally. The scars upon her memory were worse than the ones on her body.

The scar that Sasuke stared at in sheer anger was the one on her left side. The skin had been burned and another kunai mark was embedded among the searing flesh. Sasuke griped the sheets, remembering what Sakura had said when she broke a dish.

_". . He burnt me . . ."_

_"He stabbed me."_

Sasuke shook with rage as he thought back to how she cowered away from him and begged him not to hurt her.

'How could he have done this?' Sasuke wondered as he placed his warm hand on her face. She opened her eyes, holding back tears as he kissed her lips.

"Sakura," Sasuke smiled gently.

"Sasuke, I'm ugly-"

"No, you're not," Sasuke moved back down her body and stopped at where the burn was on her left side, "you're beautiful," he whispered against her skin as he kissed her scars. She let out a light gasp as he ran his fingers over each mark and kissed it.

"Sasuke," Sakura breathed as Sasuke kissed down her stomach. He smiled into her skin and sat back up, claiming her lips. She ran her hands down his sides and settled them on the hem of his pants.

Sasuke straddled her hips as he bent down and kissed her neck. He moved his lips to her breasts and let his tongue roll over the skin. He wrapped his arms around her body and let his breath glide across a bud.

She moaned his name as he continued downward and kissed her stomach. He slowly slid her pants down and tossed them off the bed. He went and kissed her lips as he felt her hands touch the waist band of his pants.

He grunted as she smiled into the kiss and started to gently pull them off of his hips. He guided her hands and took his pants off; opening his eyes he kissed her eye lids.

"Sakura," Sasuke sighed as he caressed her face, silently asking her if she really wanted to do this.

She sat up and kissed his shoulder and put her hands on his chest, silently returning his answer with a yes.

Sasuke laid her back down and kissed her while positioning himself over her and slowly sliding in.

The rest of the night Sasuke and Sakura moaned out each other's names as they laid tangled in his bed. The night time breeze mixed with the lovers' scent inside Sasuke's bedroom as Sasuke fell on top of Sakura.

She wrapped her arms around him, loving his warmth, as he settled into the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent, his scent. She panted as he kissed her neck and sat up, looking into her eyes. She looked deep into his as he kissed her cheek and whispered into her ear.

"Sakura, I love you."

She smiled and let a tear run down her face, of which he kissed away, and whispered back, "I love you too, Sasuke."

Sasuke rolled over on his side and pulled her naked body to his. He pressed her body into his chest and let her doze off into sleep as she snuggled into his neck. He pulled a sheet over them and wrapped his arms completely around her, kissing her gently on the forehead before falling into his own sleep with the moon casting its shadow on the two lovers.

* * *

"Why you little whore," two yellow eyes shot through the darkness, staring up at the bedroom window as a figure stood in the woods, "I'll show you whose your master, you little bitch. Just you wait; you'll be back with me." He chuckled, "Just you wait." With that he ran back into the forest laughing maniacally.

* * *

The sun streamed through the window as Sasuke opened his eyes. He looked ahead and saw Sakura still peacefully sleeping in his embrace. He smiled as he kissed her eyes and watched as they fluttered open. She opened her eyes fully with a moan and wriggled in his arms.

He laughed and started kissing her all over her face as she giggled and put her hands on his chest. He stopped and sat up on his elbow, staring at her face.

'This is how I want to wake up every morning,' he thought as he moved a piece of hair from her face.

She smiled as she leaned in a kissed him on the lips. Sasuke deepened the kiss and rolled over top of her with his hand on her hip. She laughed lightly as he moved to the side of her neck.

Sasuke smirked and started to kiss down her neck when he heard a pounding at the door.

"Sasuke," Sakura breathed trying to nudge him off of her.

"Ignore it," Sasuke grunted as he continued trailing his kisses down her neck and to her collar bone, nibbling on the flesh.

The pounding grew louder as Sakura ran her hands through his hair and tried to move out from under him. Sasuke held her in place and groaned as he heard a certain blond spiky haired shinobi yell.

"Oi! Sasuke! Open the door! I know you're in there!"

No sooner had Naruto yelled Sasuke heard a scream and another voice.

"Naruto shut up! You're going to wake Sakura up!"

'Heh, Kakashi,' Sasuke smirked as he kissed Sakura on the lips.

"Ow, that hurt Kakashi sensei!" Naruto whined as Sasuke and Sakura heard another voice.

"Oi, dickless wonder, why can't you just leave them alone?" Sai asked as Naruto rubbed his head.

'Sai,' Sasuke smirked again and felt Sakura break the kiss.

"Sasuke, maybe we should let them in," she smiled and touched his face. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and sighed.

"Why?" he asked seductively grinning.

"Because Naruto might break down the door if we don't," Sakura responded kissing him on the cheek as she heard more pounding coming from down the stairs.

Sasuke sighed and rolled off Sakura. He stretched next to her and reached down sliding his pants on. Sakura started to get off the bed when Sasuke stopped her.

"Stay here, I'll get rid of them," he said walking out of the room.

* * *

Sasuke walked down the stairs and heard Naruto screaming into the house with Sai and Kakashi telling him to shut up.

Sasuke let out an irritated sigh and opened the door.

"Oi, Sasuke! What took you so long?" Naruto yelled as Sasuke hit him on the head.

"I was sleeping, dobe!" Sasuke said annoyed.

"Where's Sakura?" Naruto asked excitedly dodging another hit from Sasuke.

"She's sleeping, loser," Sasuke replied glancing up the stairs, "or at least _was_, no thanks to your pounding on my door!"

"Told you you'd wake her up dickless," Sai sighed as they stepped inside his house.

Kakashi merely sighed and started reading his perverted book.

"Why are you here anyway?" Sasuke asked the artist.

"I don't know, Naruto dragged us all out of bed to come over," Sai replied giving his fake smile.

"Yeah, he even dragged _me_ over here," Kakashi said with his nose in his book.

Sasuke glared at his blond team mate and clenched his fist, "Oi, Naruto, what do you want at seven in the morning?"

"Eh? I just wanted to take Sakura out for ramen!" Naruto exclaimed.

'He ruined my morning with Sakura just to take her for ramen? Oh, he's dead,' Sasuke thought.

"That was it?!" Sasuke, Sai and Kakashi exclaimed.

"You idiot! You dragged us all out of bed just to come over here and pester Sakura!" Kakashi yelled.

"It's not that early Kakashi sensei!" Naruto whined.

"You woke me up at four in the morning Naruto!" Kakashi yelled back.

"I knew it would take you longer to wake up!" Naruto defended crossing his arms over his chest.

He shifted uncomfortably in the room when he felt Sai and Sasuke glaring daggers in the back of his head. He laughed nervously as Sai and Sasuke approached him.

"H-h-hey guys," Naruto stuttered backing up, "I-I-I just wanted to see Sakura chan and make sure-"

Naruto stopped as he bumped into Kakashi behind him.

"Naruto!" Sai and Sasuke yelled.

"Uh, what's going on?" Sakura asked as she walked down the stairs in Sasuke's old clothes.

Sai stopped his aimed punch for Naruto's face as Naruto stopped his thrashing while Kakashi was holding his arms behind his back. Sasuke stopped strangling Naruto as they all dropped the blond boy on the floor with small blushes on their faces.

"Ah, good morning Sakura," Kakashi smiled.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled running for Sakura and spearing her into the ground.

"Naruto!" Sai, Sasuke, and Kakashi yelled as Naruto hugged Sakura.

"Uh, good morning Naruto," Sakura breathed through his hug.

"Sakura! I missed you! I missed you!"

"I didn't go anywhere Naruto?" Sakura asked looking over his shoulder at the other three men.

"I know but, I still missed you!" He squeezed harder until she pried him off of her.

"Oi, dickless, let her breath!" Sai yelled.

Naruto quickly got off of her and helped her to her feet. She smiled as Sasuke walked over to her side.

"Idiot," he muttered.

"What did you come over for Naruto?" Sakura asked sweetly.

"Ramen! Let's go get some Ramen!" Naruto yelled throwing open the door and walking out.

Sasuke, Sai and Kakashi quickly ran to the door, closing and locking it behind him. Sakura smiled and tried to stop laughing as Naruto banged on the door and yelled to be let back in.

Sai, Sasuke, and Kakashi stepped back from the door and laughed along with Sakura while Naruto kept banging on the door.

He finally stopped and Sakura opened the door, telling him that they could go get some ramen.

The group walked to the ramen shop as Naruto sung about what and how many bowls he was going to eat.

"Where's Yamato?" Sasuke asked Sai.

"He got assigned a mission early this morning, he should be back in a few days," the artist replied looking over to Sakura and smiling.

"How are you feeling Sakura?" Sai asked.

"Great, Sai," she smiled as Sasuke inwardly smirked.

Sakura, Sasuke, Sai, Kakashi, and Naruto ate their ramen and laughed about their old genin stories, hoping Sakura would remember some of them.

Naruto started talking about their mission into the land of waves when Sakura piped in, "that was our first mission right?" she furrowed her eyebrows as Naruto smiled.

"Yeah, it was Sakura." He replied with big grin.

"I remember it," Sakura smiled back as Sasuke squeezed her hand.

As the group finished their ramen, Naruto finishing his fifth bowl, Ino, TenTen, Shikamaru and Neji walked up behind them. Ino immediately grabbed Sakura and hugged her while Shikamaru muttered, "troublesome woman."

"What was that Shikamaru?" Ino asked dangerously.

"Uh, nothing," Shikamaru stuttered as Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji snickered behind him.

"Sakura how are you? We've been worried," TenTen said as she gently hugged Sakura.

"I'm fine, um, uh," Sakura stuttered embarrassed looking back to Sasuke with pleading eyes.

'She still doesn't remember everyone,' Sasuke thought and introduced her to Ino, TenTen, Shikamaru and Neji. She smiled shyly at them.

"Oi, Sasuke, didn't you buy her any clothes yet?" Ino asked as Sasuke just sighed along with Shikamaru.

"I was going to go today," He muttered as Neji gave him a sympathetic look.

"Why don't we take her?" TenTen smiled seeing Neji's relieved face.

"Uh, Sakura, is that okay?" Sasuke asked not knowing how she would react. She swallowed hard and nodded.

"Great!" Ino yelled in Shikamaru's ear, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. She and TenTen both grabbed Sakura by her arms and dragged her away.

"Bye Sasuke!" Sakura smiled over her shoulder as Ino dragged her forward.

"Oh, Shikamaru! I'm using your money!" Ino laughed as she ran with Sakura and TenTen.

"Troublesome woman" Shikamaru muttered as he felt around for his missing wallet. "She took my damn wallet," he muttered to himself as Sasuke and Neji smirked.

"How do you put up with her?" Sasuke asked shivering.

Shikamaru just shrugged as Naruto and Sai laughed at him.

"She still doesn't remember everything?" Neji asked Sasuke.

"No, she's trying though," Sasuke sighed looking down at the ground absent minded.

* * *

"So, Sakura, what do you like?" TenTen asked as she walked Sakura into a store.

"Um, I don't know," Sakura replied looking down at the floor.

She couldn't remember the last time someone actually cared about what she thought and liked. She shivered when she remembered how her 'master' used to just strip her of her clothes and told her what she would wear. She dressed for him, not of her free will, but his.

"Sakura, go in the dressing room and we'll bring you the clothes!" Ino exclaimed pushing Sakura into the nearest dressing room.

Over the hours Ino and TenTen argued with each other over what Sakura would and wouldn't like until they finally agreed on a red shirt with a black mesh top showing her stomach through the fabric. Ino handed Sakura the top and she tried it on, shuttering in the mirror when she saw her scars come through the fabric.

"Oi, Sakura, what's taking so long? Are you okay? I want to see the top!" Ino knocked on the door.

"Sakura? Sakura?" TenTen asked.

"Please, can I have another top?" came a small voice from the other side of the door.

"Oh come on Sakura, the shirt isn't that bad!" Ino yelled, "Come out, we want to see it!"

Sakura sat on the ground as Ino said the last part, remembering her 'master.'

_"Come out Sakura, I want to see the clothes I bought for you," Kitaro smiled leaning against his couch. He made Sakura change into her new clothes in the bathroom and awaited her to come out._

_"Sakura, come on, I want to see my clothes!" He yelled growing annoyed._

_"No! I don't want to come out in these!" Sakura yelled through the door, locking and leaning against it._

_"Open the door," Kitaro said dangerously as he tried unlocking it._

_"No! Just leave me alone! I hate you!" She yelled as the door hand was ripped from its position._

_Kitaro grabbed her hair from behind and dragged her out of the bathroom, throwing her down against a small table._

_"You will do as I say!" he screamed smacking her._

_She cried and started to back away when he grabbed her hair again._

_"Oh no you don't, I said I wanted to see the clothes and I will see them," he smirked as he lifted her up exaiming what she was wearing._

_Sakura stood ashamed as he watched her breath nervously in his see through white dress. It drooped low on her chest and showed her cleavage as the back dipped low on her. She shuddered as he pushed her up against the wall and started to kiss her face. She struggled against his grip and kicked him in the groin._

_He fell down as she ran but fell when he grabbed her ankle. _

_"You little bitch, I'll make you pay for that!" he smirked._

_That was when he first started beating her. He bloodied her so much that day that she could barely move. She screamed for someone to help her, she screamed until her voice was barely audible. She stopped when no one came, no one heard her cries, and he left her on the floor in her once white dress, bleeding all over._

_The last thing she remembered him saying was, "Look at your mess, it better be cleaned up when I get back!" with that he left her lying on the floor._

_She did as she was told, even through the pain; she cleaned the room spotless until she passed out. _

"Please, I don't want to come out, just, can I have another dress? Please!" Sakura pleaded as tears cascaded down her face.

"Sakura-"

"Please, you don't understand, I can't come out!" she cried.

TenTen tried to stop Ino as she barged through the door and saw Sakura sitting on the ground trying to hide her stomach.

"Sakura?" TenTen asked behind Ino.

"Get out! Just go! Please, just leave me alone!" Sakura cried as she moved in the corner, still remembering her 'master's' beating.

"Sakura, please, what's wrong?" Ino said walking towards her.

"I can't show you, please just leave! Just get out!" Sakura screamed putting her head into her hands.

"Sakura, it's okay just let me see," Ino said as she pulled Sakura up and pushed her arms away.

Sakura tried fighting her back but couldn't. She settled and let Ino see the shirt.

"Oh my God," Ino whispered as she saw why Sakura was crying. She dropped her hands and looked into Sakura's eyes.

"Sakura I-"

"Are you happy now!" Sakura yelled as she looked at the ground.

"Ino? Sakura, I'm sorry, I-" TenTen gasped as she saw the burn scars and kunai marks.

"Just leave me alone! Just get out!" Sakura yelled pushing them out of the room and shutting the door behind her. She cried as she took off the shirt and looked at herself in the mirror.

She ran her hands over the scars, remembering each one. Each one had its own story, each had its own terrible memories attached to it, she could never forget. Those scars wouldn't let her. She turned around and felt the scars that stretched across her back from his beatings. She remembered them like they happened yesterday, every lashing, every bruise, and every tear she cried she remembered.

Ino listened to Sakura's cries and looked over at TenTen, "I think we should get Sasuke."

"Yeah, stay here and I'll find him," TenTen looked back towards the door of the dressing room and walked out holding back her own tears.

* * *

"So, what has Sakura said about him?" Sai asked as Sasuke sat down on his couch. He invited the guys back over to his house, not wanting to worry Sakura if she came back and he wasn't there.

"His name is Kitaro, that's all I know," Sasuke sighed remembering her screaming in her sleep last night.

"It's not much but I should tell Tsunade," Kakashi said leaving Sasuke's home.

"How is she doing?" Naruto asked looking at Sasuke's worried face.

"She's okay," Sasuke replied.

Naruto, Sai, Neji and Shikamaru saw his face and didn't believe him, "Sasuke," Neji started, "how is she really doing?"

"Not good," Sasuke whispered.

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked as Naruto only clenched his fists.

"He beat her," Sasuke muttered, "a lot," he added.

"How-"

"Sasuke! Sasuke! Open the door! It's Sakura!" TenTen shouted banging on the door.

At hearing Sakura's name, Sasuke bolted to the door and threw it open, revealing a panting and exhausted TenTen.

"What's wrong?! What happened?!" Sasuke asked as TenTen struggled to catch her breath.

"We had her try…. On some clothes…. And she…" Without waiting for her to finish Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Where is she now?" Neji asked.

"With Ino, she wouldn't let us near her," TenTen replied.

Sasuke pushed passed TenTen as the others followed behind him. Before long, Sasuke and the others barged through the store finding Ino crying next to the door with her hands in her lap.

"Sasuke-"

"Move Ino," Sasuke said forcefully as he knocked on the door hearing Sakura crying behind it, "Sakura? Sakura? It's me, open the door?" He said softly, the others back up and gave him space.

"Sasuke?" came a small voice behind the door.

"It's me, come on, please, let me in," Sasuke pleaded jiggling the handle of the door.

He felt it turn all the way open and he quickly entered, shutting the door behind him. Sasuke stared at Sakura on the floor crying with her knees up, hiding her naked chest.

"Sakura, what happened?" Sasuke asked sitting down next to her.

"I couldn't let them see, I couldn't!" She cried into her hands.

Sasuke pulled her arms away and let her cry into his chest. She held onto his shirt as she mumbled incoherent words about her scars.

Sasuke noticed how the scars from her stomach and side ran to her back. He saw new ones, different ones from the night before. He realized what she hadn't wanted them to see and held her close.

"Sakura, let's go home, I'll bring you back some other time," Sasuke whispered and kissed her lightly on the head.

She nodded into his chest. Sasuke pulled away from her and took off his own shirt, placing it over her small form. He picked her up and walked out of the dressing room.

Ino and TenTen along with the guys were standing there waiting for them to come out. Ino cried into Shikamaru's shoulder as he rubbed her back.

Ino immediately looked up and cried harder, "Sakura, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! Sasuke I-"

Sasuke cut her off with a small smile, "It's okay Ino, you didn't know. I think that's enough for today."

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed pulling Ino back into his embrace.

"Sasuke-" Naruto started to ask.

"No, Naruto, not now." Sai spoke for Sasuke as Sasuke walked past them.

"Neji," Naruto whispered.

Neji without even asking used his byakugan. He was sorry but he wanted to know what happened. He quickly turned it off when he saw why TenTen and Ino were crying.

"Neji, what is it?" Naruto asked.

"You don't want to know," Neji replied, ashamed that he had used his byakugan to pry into Sakura's business but, he couldn't help it.

Neji cringed at the thought of how her scars looked; the thought of how they left her for a year to endure what she did made him feel horrible. Shikamaru and Sai caught onto Neji's same fear and narrowed their eyes thinking about Sakura's condition.

"We should leave now," Neji spoke up.

"Yeah," they agreed and left the building.

* * *

Okay, so what did you all think? I feel bad for Sakura! But don't worry she will remember everything soon, Neji isn't a jerk for using his Byakugan, i just thought it would fit well with story if he could see what happened. I'm kind of running a bit of a guilt trip but OH WELL! It's cool!

Well until next time

Slyvia, REVIEW! REVIEW! I love you guys who are reviewing!


	8. Retelling Nightmares

Hey All, Slyvia here again!

I love all the reviews coming in! You guys rock! Thank you! Hugs to all, you really inspire me, okay so here is the next chappie, it has some fluff and some bad stuff but i hope you all enjoy it! Don't worry the fighting and stuff will come soon, i have everything planned out, i'm so excited!

Read and Enjoy!

* * *

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked shyly.

"Hmm?" Sasuke mumbled as he carried Sakura back to his home.

"I'm sorry," she started as she looked up at his face, "I just didn't want them to see, I can't let them see."

"Sakura…" Sasuke stared down at the woman in his arms as she started to cry and clench her fists.

"I can't let them see how weak I was," she finished.

'I can't be weak, I have to get stronger. He's still out there, he's going to come after me; I have to be strong, I have to beat him,' Sakura thought as she remembered the times he taunted and beat her.

"You weren't weak," Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows as his hold tightened on her body.

'You were never weak Sakura,' Sasuke thought.

"Sasuke, I want to learn it again."

"Learn what?" Sasuke asked as he stared down into her bright green eyes.

"To be a shinobi again," she bit out, subconsciously bringing a hand down her side, "I want to be strong."

"Sakura, I don't-"

"Please Sasuke, I don't want to feel like this. I never want to go through that again!" She cried into his chest.

"Sakura, I ca-"

"Please, I can't be like this, I can't stop remembering. I can't stop, everything he did to me, I can't forget it! It never goes away!" She cried frantically.

'I should have been there; I should have tried to save her! What she must have gone through, what that bastard did to her!' Sasuke screamed at himself.

Sakura mumbled the same thing over and over again into his chest as Sasuke continued to walk. He held her as close as he could, gritting his teeth at her confession.

'She wants to kill him. That's why,' Sasuke reasoned in his mind, 'That's why she wants me to train her but, if I do, I could lose her again.'

Sasuke walked past the old bridge where team 7 would meet in the genin days. He remembered being the first one there followed by Sakura and Naruto. He remembered how they would wait for Kakashi and his lame excuses. He passed the bridge and sighed at the memories.

'I don't want to train her, I can't. If I do, she'll go after him, she'll try to kill him. I can't let her do that, I can't let her be a shinobi.' Sasuke thought bitterly.

He passed the old training grounds, the place where Kakashi took them for their bell test. He could still see the post Naruto was tied to and slightly smiled, he also remembered Sakura having to feed him. She wasn't too happy about that as he remembered and smirked.

"Sakura," Sasuke stared ahead of him as he neared his home.

"Sasuke?"

"Training isn't going to erase what he did to you," Sasuke looked down into her eyes.

"I know," Sakura nodded, "but I need this, I just need to be strong again."

'I'm sorry Sakura, I just can't,' Sasuke thought sadly.

"I can't," Sasuke whispered.

'I'm so sorry Sakura, please understand,' Sasuke pleaded inside.

Sasuke walked in the front door of his home and set Sakura down on her feet in front of him. She stared at him with tear filled eyes as he looked down at the floor in front of her. He couldn't look her in the eye; he couldn't face her, not now at least. He realized he had let her down; again, he always seemed to do that.

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, I, I don't want to-"

"Do you know what this is from Sasuke?" Sakura asked as she put her hand over the middle of her chest through his shirt.

"…"

"One day he got really mad at me, he was drunk," Sakura started with a shaky voice, "He chained me to the wall in the basement, took off my clothes and, and he," Sakura's voice broke as she started trembling.

"Sakura, you don't have to-" Sasuke pleaded trying to stop her from reliving that nightmare.

"Oi Sasuke! Sasuke!" to Sasuke's surprise and somewhat happiness, Naruto's voice could be heard on the other side of the door.

"Sakura," Sasuke started as Sakura sadly smiled and motioned for him to answer the door.

Sasuke sighed as he opened the door to the blond ninja standing with Kakashi, Neji, Shikamaru and Sai.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

"ANBU may have found out who this guy is," Kakashi said as he looked over to Sakura.

"What?" Sasuke got side stepped as Naruto rushed over to Sakura.

"We found him Sakura, we found him," Naruto smiled and hugged Sakura as she trembled in his arms.

"We can arrange a team to be sent out tomorrow," Shikamaru said as Sakura looked over Naruto's shoulder.

"Tomorrow?" Sakura asked as Neji and Sai nodded.

'They must be here to get Sasuke then,' Sakura thought as Naruto rubbed her back.

"Sasuke, we need you to come," Neji added.

'Finally, we can kill that bastard. I'll make him pay for what he did, I will kill him Sakura,' Sasuke thought as he looked at Kakashi.

"I'm coming," Sakura's voice cut off Sasuke's thoughts as everyone looked at her.

"No," Sasuke flatly said.

'I'm not letting you get hurt again Sakura,' Sasuke thought.

"I'm coming," Sakura repeated as she eyed Sasuke.

"No, you're not, it's too dangerous," Sasuke replied.

"Sakura, I think you should listen to Sasuke-" Kakashi stopped as Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"This is my problem and I'm coming," Sakura spoke as Naruto fidgeted around her.

"Sakura, I know you want to kill this guy but-"

"No, none of you know, none of you understand," Sakura smiled down at the ground, "None of you know what I went through, none of you," she lowered her voice as her tears fell onto the floor.

"Sakura.." Naruto whispered.

"You don't under-"

"Please Sakura, give us a chance to understand, we want to help you," Sai whispered back.

"You can't understand," Sakura laughed, "so stop acting like you could. You could never understand what he did to me, you could never imagine."

"Sakura, what did he do to you? What did he do?" Naruto blurted out. He shook off the glares of Sasuke and Neji and continued to look at her. He couldn't help but ask.

"Sakura, please-" Naruto pleaded as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"You don't get it do you?" Sakura asked crying as she raised her head to look between their faces.

"Sakura, what did he do to you?" Naruto asked again.

"…" Sakura played with the hem of Sasuke shirt as she continued to cry.

'I can't tell them, I can't let them see me like this. I can't, I can't,' Sakura reminded herself over and over again, trembling.

"Sakura, what happened?" Naruto yelled dangerously as he put both of his hands on her shoulders.

"Tell me Sakura, what did that bastard do to you?" Naruto continued to yell as Sakura's eyes snapped open and she began to tremble.

"Stop it Naruto!" Sasuke shouted pushing Naruto away from her. He pulled her into his arms, trying to calm her body down as she cried.

'She's remembering all of the things he did to her.' Sasuke reasoned.

"Sakura, I just wanted to help you," Naruto shied away as Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Sakura, just tell us, we want to help," Naruto whispered again.

"Naruto-" Neji tried to stop him before Sakura's voice broke through.

"He tried to rape me," Sasuke realized Sakura was finishing the story she had started telling him, she was reliving her nightmare, "I wouldn't let him, I tried to break the chains but he wouldn't let me move," she raised her right wrist as a few faded lines could be seen.

'From the chains,' Sai thought as he looked into her eyes, widened with fear and pain.

"I couldn't stop him, he just kept hitting me until he got angry," she trembled in Sasuke arms as he rocked her back and forth.

_"Stop it! Stop! Please, stop!" Sakura cried as she kicked Kitaro in the stomach._

_"Why you little bitch," Kitaro sneered, smacking her across the face._

_Sakura's face stung with his smack as he grabbed both of her legs, wrapping them around his waist, "You will do as I say!" he screeched._

_Sakura tried to close her legs and kick him away but, couldn't. She couldn't move from that spot on the wall._

_"You're feisty," Kitaro grinned running his hand over the inside of her thigh, "I'll have fun breaking you."  
_

_With that he pushed her hard against the wall and kissed her. She tried to thrash her head from side to side but couldn't. He pushed his tongue in her mouth and bit her lip._

_'No, I can't give up, I can't let him win,' Sakura thought as she kicked her legs, 'I won't give in!' She screamed as she bit down on his tongue._

_The vile taste of his blood flooded her mouth as he shrieked in pain and let go of her legs. Tumbling to the ground, he muttered small curses._

_He moved in front of her and grabbed her by neck, cutting off her air supply. _

_"I'll kill you!" He screamed as Sakura yanked the chains over her head, gasping for each breath._

_'I have to get out of here, I have to leave. I have to live, I can't breathe, I can't!' Sakura screamed trying to control her breathing._

_With a deep chuckle, Kitaro let go of her neck. Dragging his lips across her skin, he whispered, "I won't kill you yet, you're too much fun." _

_He chuckled walking away from her and closed the door behind him. _

_"How can I be this weak, I can't do anything!" Sakura whispered bitterly, spitting out the last of Kitaro's blood from her mouth. _

_Sakura watched the far side of the room where the door was and waited for him to come back. She was still without clothes and shook with the cold and fear. _

"He left me on the wall for two days," Sakura whispered, "he left me alone down there, he just left me," she repeated remembering.

"Sakura…" Kakashi started. Neji clenched his fists as Sai looked down at the ground, waiting for her to finish.

_"Well, well, well," Kitaro snickered as he opened the door, "Maybe now you will be a little more respectful of your master, hmmm? Sakura?" His voice graded with venom as he walked over to her._

_"Oh, don't look at me like that, I'm just doing this for your own good besides," he whispered against her fatigued face, "I own you."_

_'I can't beat him like this, I can't do anything if he tries to touch me, I'm helpless!' Sakura panicked in her mind. _

_"No," Sakura squeaked._

_"What was that?" He purred against her neck._

_Without hesitation Sakura spat in his face and kicked him with what little strength she had left. _

_"I've had enough of this," Kitaro murmured as he unsheathed his katana, "I will break you blossom, I promise you that," his voice surged as he ran the blade over her skin. _

_'What's he going to do? What can I do?' Sakura's thoughts raced as she stared at the blade running down her stomach._

_"Nothing," Kitaro answered her thoughts and fears, "You're helpless Sakura. No one's coming to save you, no one. You're mine," he laughed, "Only mine."  
_

_He pushed his katana into her side, spilling her blood on the floor. She groaned in agony as he walked away from her, taking out his kunai._

_"Let's play a game, shall we?" he cooed, "Let's see how many kunai it will take until you give in to me."_

_Lust leaked through his voice as he threw the first kunai, hitting her square in the shoulder. She muffled her cry as she bit her lip, waiting for the next strike._

_He chuckled at her bravery and threw another, this time it hit her in the upper thigh. She refused to scream, she wouldn't let him win, she couldn't lose like this._

_"Still acting brave? Why don't you just accept it? I am the only one who can help you Sakura."_

_"I'd rather die than listen to you," Sakura coughed up blood as she glared at him._

_"Hmm, brave words, but wrong answer," he shook with rage as he twiddled another kunai in his hand._

_With a gleam in his eye, he threw it._

_Sakura screamed as it her in the chest. _

_"Bulls eye," Kitaro laughed as he walked towards her._

_Sakura shook as he removed the katana from her side, examining her blood on it's blade._

_"You know Sakura," Kitaro smirked at her broken form against the wall, "I love how you sharpen my kunai and katana." He smiled as his yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness of the basement._

_'I have to fight, I can't let him break me!' Sakura thought as she avoided his gaze._

_He inched closer to her, trailing his hands over her thighs, and dropped his katana on the floor._

_"I tried to sharpen my kunai while you were down here but," he smirked as he took out another kunai from his pocket, "I couldn't figure out how you got them so sharp." He purred as he ran the kunai over her skin, watching as she shivered at its touch._

_'I have to fight; I have to get out of here!' Sakura reminded herself, steeling her body for whatever punishment her 'master' had in store for her._

_He cupped her chin with his hand as she shuttered under his touch._

_"I tried everything Sakura chan, everything to get them as sharp as you did but I couldn't" he kissed her mouth forcefully as she screamed into this mouth._

_He pulled away from her lips and laughed as she trembled in fear._

_"But, you know," he smirked dangerously, "I finally figured it out," he stared as he brought up his kunai and a little torch. He made some hand signs and lit the torch, smiling as he looked at her ember lit features._

_"You use heat to make the kunai softer to sharpen, then they are much more pliable and easy to bend to the user's will," he chuckled as he cupped her chin, bringing the flame closer to her face, "Just as I will do to you," he mouthed against the side of her face._

_She shivered as his breath crept over her skin. _

_'He's insane, I have to get out of here,' Sakura thought as she continued to shiver. Her skin grew numb due to the dampness of the basement as her lips tinted purple. _

_"Aww, is my Sakura chan cold?" Kitaro murmured into her ear, growling lustfully, "Then let me warm you up."_

_Kitaro pulled away from her body and brought up his kunai, dipping it into the flame of his torch. _

_'No! He's crazy!' Sakura thought as she started to violently thrash around, trying to escape the chains on the wall._

_Kitaro looked with sick fascination as Sakura struggled against the bonds, he watched the kunai glow red with head in the flame and laughed at her vile attempts to free herself._

_He pulled the kunai away from the flame and walked over to her._

_She could feel the heat of the kunai as he brought it close to her, she inhaled sharply as he slowly moved it to the side of her face._

_"Are you going to do as I say?" he asked as he stroked her face with his free hand, "or am I going to have to make you?" he licked his lips as her face paled._

_'What do I do? I can't fight him like this! But I can't give up either, what can I do?' Sakura thought as she wrestled with her emotions, 'No, I can't give up, someone will come for me. Someone will come for me; they'll save me,' Sakura inhaled shakily as she looked into her 'master's' eyes._

_Her bravery and hope won the battle and she spoke, "Go to hell," she breathed out._

_"Sakura, Sakura," he repeated closing his eyes and shaking his head, "Wrong answer," he laughed._

_As quick as lightening he plunged the kunai in to her chest. Sakura screamed as the red hot kunai burned her skin as he pushed it as far as it would go. She shrieked and cried in agony as the flaming iron seared her flesh. She could smell her skin burning as he twisted the blade around in her chest, enlarging the hole he had created._

_She coughed up blood and faded in and out of consciousness as he left the blade in her skin._

_"Are you warm now Sakura?" Kitaro asked pulling out another kunai, sticking it into the flame, "I don't believe we finished our game yet."_

_"Help! Someone, anyone! Help me!" Sakura screamed as Kitaro's laugh only echoed through the basement._

_"Someone, please, help me, please!" Sakura started to yell but only cried as Kitaro's laugh haunted her pleas._

_"Who are you calling to?" He asked grabbing her face, "Scream, scream all you want but no one, no one is coming to save you," he whispered._

_Her eyes shook with fear as she cried, "No, you're wrong, someone-"_

_"Who? No one's coming for you," he smiled._

_"No, people will come, they love me, and they'll find me!" Sakura screamed. _

_"Sakura," he laughed, "no one loves you, I'm the only one who loves you, only me."_

_"You're lying," Sakura spat._

_"Am I? Well then, where are they? You've been here a while and nobody's come for you and do you know why?" He leered in her face._

_"..?"_

_"Because nobody cares," he whispered into her ear as her eyes widened. _

_'Is that it? Is he right? Nobody's coming for me? No, he's wrong, someone has to be trying to find me.' Sakura reasoned with her doubt as Kitaro licked the side of her face._

_"Nobody, except me," he whispered kissing the side of her face, "I'm the only one who cares about you Sakura, I'm the only one who loves you," he chuckled as he pulled the other kunai away from the torch._

_"I'm the only one who loves you Sakura chan," he whispered as he plunged the other kunai in the same hole in her chest, "Only me." _

"Sakura," Naruto cried as he looked at her angry face.

"He never stopped" she cried wide eyed in fear as Sasuke tightened his hold on her body, "He wouldn't stop until I admitted it, he just kept stabbing and laughing at me until I said it," she repeated as Sasuke tried to calm her down.

"What?" Neji clenched his fist and started to shake thinking about what happened to her.

"Sakura," Shikamaru spoke shakily, "What did he want you to say?"

Sakura continued to cry as Sai urged her to answer Shikamaru's question.

"Sakura, please…" Sai whispered.

"To give up, he wanted me to give up," Sakura cried, "and I did."

Everyone's breath hitched as they thought about how much pain she endured trying to remain optimistic and strong.

Without anyone asking Sakura continued, "He wanted me to stop hoping someone would save me, and I did," she sniffled in Sasuke's shirt as tears formed in his eyes, "I stopped hoping I would be saved, I stopped screaming and crying and listened to him. He told me none of you cared and I believed him. He wanted to break my spirit and he did" Sakura whispered the last part as she continued to shake with fear.

'He broke her? How?' Kakashi thought as he summoned all the courage he had.

"How many times Sakura?" Kakashi asked as his voiced quaked with fear and pain, "How many times did he hurt you that time?"

Sakura pushed away from Sasuke and faced her old sensei as he looked her in the eye.

"Thirteen," she whispered clutching the middle of her chest, "he wouldn't stop until I stopped screaming for help."

'It's all because of us, that was just one time,' Sai thought, 'That sick bastard, to do this to her.'

Sai looked up as Sasuke pulled Sakura back into his arms, trying to be strong and hide his tears for her. Sasuke cradled her body as her knees trembled.

'Sakura, I'm not letting you near him ever again. I'm sorry but I can't lose you again, I won't,' Sasuke thought, 'please understand,' he prayed.

"Do you see? Do you see why I have to come? I have to go with you, I have to show him he didn't win," Sakura whispered into Sasuke's chest.

'How could we let this happen?' Neji wondered as he looked over to Shikamaru.

"Sasuke, maybe she-" Sai started but was cut off by Sasuke's sharingan.

"No, she's not going," he bit out.

'Please, just let me handle this Sakura, please,' Sasuke hoped as Sakura grew rigid in his arms.

"But-"

"I'm sorry Sakura but I'm not letting you come," Sasuke replied steadily.

"Sas-"

"No," his eyes sympathized with her but his decision was final, he wasn't going to let her be hurt again.

"Sakura," Kakashi started, "we're going to protect you this time, and we're never going to let this happen again. Don't blame Sasuke; he just wants to keep you safe."

"We'll get this guy, Sakura," Shikamaru spoke, "I promise, we'll get him."

"Don't worry Sakura, you're safe now," Sai smiled, his real smile.

"Sakura, we couldn't save you that time but that'll never happen again," Neji un-furrowed his brow and gave a soft smile in her direction.

"Sakura," Naruto said as he put a hand on her back, "you lost faith in us once but, I promise you, we'll protect you. Just trust us to take this guy down," Naruto smiled.

Sakura looked into his blue eyes, searching for any doubts or lies. She couldn't help it but, she coudn't just trust anyone. She didnt' want to trust them but, she did. She couldn't help it but she felt their love and sense of sincerity.

"I think we should leave now," Sai whispered as Sakura looked between their faces, "Sasuke, tomorrow morning."

"Right," Sasuke whispered as he put his head on top of Sakura's.

"Bye Sakura," the shinobi whispered as they closed the door and left.

'They really mean it don't they?' Inside Sakura felt relieved. She hadn't felt like that in so long, she forgot the feeling. Everyday she spent with Kitaro she was in fear. She finally for once felt the burden of her hatred and terrors of him lift off of her shoulders. Peace, she finally felt at peace. Sakura let a small smile cross her face as she thought of how much everyone wanted to protect her.

'I was wrong, they do care, he was wrong, I am loved; they love me. Sasuke loves me,' Sakura sighed and smiled as she listened to Sasuke's heartbeat.

"Sakura, please don't be angry about my decision, you have to understand," Sasuke pulled her face into his hands, "I don't want to lose you again."

"I know," Sakura whispered. Secretly she still wanted to go but decided to trust Sasuke and the others to end her nightmare.

'I trust them, I trust Sasuke,' Sakura thought as she looked into Sasuke's dark eyes.

Trust wasn't something she could give away anymore, she had locked her heart away while she was with Kitaro. She wanted him to kill her so many times, she prayed that he would snap and get tired of her, she just wanted to give up and end it all but, she always felt that something was telling her not to. For some reason she had always felt that same nagging sensation, that sensation that someone, somewhere wanted her to live.

Sakura smiled and let a tear roll down her cheek, 'It was him, he was the one I could feel, he saved me,' Sakura thought as she placed her hand on one of his.

"You saved me Sasuke," she whispered.

"What?" Sasuke questioned.

"I always wanted to give up and die but," Sakura cried.

"Sakura."

"It was you, I could feel your love," she whispered back, "your love, and it made me strong, strong enough to live."

Sasuke smiled as Sakura continued, "It was you Sasuke, and you loved me didn't you."

'I never stopped loving you and I never will Sakura,' Sasuke thought.

"Yes, I did," he replied.

"Do you still love me?" she asked shyly.

Sasuke pushed his forehead against hers and whispered, "Yes, I do."

"I love you too Sasuke," Sakura smiled again as Sasuke pressed his lips to hers.

* * *

Awww, fluffly moment!

Well tell me what you think!

Thanks read and Review!

Slyvia!


	9. Our Farewell

Slyvia Here again!

So, thank you to all of my reviewers! You guys keep me updating quicker! I really love this story, i have big plans for it! It will be finished by the end of the month because school will start! Grrrr! But yea, i am a senior! Woo hoo! Anyways, here's the next chappie!

Read and Review

Please and Thank you!

* * *

"_I love you too Sasuke," Sakura smiled again as Sasuke pressed his lips to hers._

Sasuke deepened the kiss as Sakura's hands wrapped around his waist, pressing their bodies together.

Sasuke smiled into the kiss and moved his hands into her hair.

'I never want to lose you again,' Sasuke thought as he splayed kisses across her face.

He picked her up and carried her up the stairs revelling in the heat of her body against his.

Laying Sakura down on the bed Sasuke stared into her eyes.

"Sakura," he whispered as he kissed her, letting his hands roam down her sides.

Sasuke kissed Sakura with all the love and care that he could, he wanted to protect her, but he couldn't shake the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. His hearth throbbed at the thought of leaving her. He couldn't explain the feeling but he felt that he was walking into a trap.

He broke their kiss as he placed his forehead against hers, trying to regain his breath.

'I'm just paranoid, everything's going to be alright,' Sasuke half heartedly assured himself.

Concerned, Sakura caressed the side of his face, breaking him from his thoughts. He smiled back down at her and kissed her again.

He wanted her to feel safe with him; he wanted her to stay with him forever. Kissing her deeper, she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him closer.

Sasuke knew she needed him just as much as he needed her. All the years he spent hating his brother he had destroyed himself, when he was with her, he felt loved. He felt that she was carefully picking up the pieces of his heart and putting them back together.

She felt the same, being near to him after what Kitaro did to her gave her peace. She was free to live her life, not in fear and pain but in happiness and joy. Sasuke gave that to her. Sakura let a stray tear run down her face as she thanked to whoever was watching out for her, for Sasuke.

She slightly moaned as his fingers traced the skin beneath her shirt in a desperate attempt to feel every part of her.

He wanted her to know that he would protect her, he couldn't before but he would now. He wanted to show her how much he loved her.

Sliding her shirt off, Sasuke let his lips graze over her skin as he pulled her body closer to his, not wanting to ever let her go. His fingers again touched each scar as his lips followed.

As he touched each of her scars he touched each memory attached to them, every terrible moment that she had spent with her 'master' he washed away. The pain ebbed away as Sasuke's breath flowed over her skin.

Sakura's fingers found their way to the top of his pants and side across the waistband, feeling his soft skin. Sasuke softly moaned as she continued to caress the naked skin of his chest and waist with her delicate touch.

Sasuke ran his lips down her body as slow as he could; he truly loved her and wanted her to feel that. This time wasn't about just making love but feeling, they needed each other.

Still letting his lips roam down her body, Sasuke slid her pants down her legs, pressing kisses over the exposed skin.

"Sasuke," Sakura whispered as he came back up to kiss her.

Sakura placed her hands back on the top of his pants and gently tugged them down. Sasuke helped her as he broke the kiss.

"Sakura," he stroked her face.

Sakura smiled as she gently pulled him down for another kiss. She moved from his mouth and kissed down his neck as his hot breath tickled her face. Running her lips over his collar bone and to his shoulders, Sasuke put both of his hands on her hips, lightly massaging them.

She returned to his lips as he slid into her, creating a smooth rhythm.

Both climbed over the edge together, moaning each other's names into the hazy night. Sasuke let his possessive side take over, keeping Sakura's body close to his, not wanting to be without it for a second.

He felt her chest rise with each breath as he collapsed on her. Wrapping his arms around her as she did the same around his neck, Sakura sighed. She didn't mind the extra weight so long as he was with her.

Loneliness, that's what she feared the most. Sasuke feared it too. Sakura cradled his body on top of hers as his heavy breathing ran across the side of her neck.

"Sakura," Sasuke panted, moving out of her hold.

She stared into his eyes and found nothing but love in them. Knowing he would stop at nothing to protect her made her heart race. She could finally let go of her terror and be happy.

"I love you," he finished laying his head down on her chest.

Sakura continued to hold him as she smiled, "I love you too Sasuke," she felt him smile into her skin as she was lulled to sleep by his breathing.

'Thank you Sasuke, thank you,' Sakura thought as night encompassed the two lovers.

* * *

Sasuke awoke in the morning to Sakura's steady breathing under him. He raised himself off of her body as her arms fell from his neck.

'She's beautiful,' Sasuke smiled as he pushed a few strands of hair back.

He looked out the window and sighed, it was time to go. He didn't want to leave her but, he had to. He swung his legs over the side, pulling the sheets over her naked body.

Before leaving the bed he leaned over her body and laid a small kiss on her lips.

"I'll be back soon, I promise," he whispered as he kissed her again.

He felt guilty as she stirred in her sleep. Pulling his clothes back on slowly, he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed each finger, not wanting to leave.

Selfishly, he wanted her to wake up and beg him to take her. He wanted her to cling to him and force him to let her come. Selfishly, he wanted to take her with him as well but, he knew he couldn't.

'I guess I should go,' he thought as he started to walk across the room.

Turning around as he left, he looked over her form once more. Pink hair splayed across his pillow as her angelic body slept peacefully. Her limbs were tangled in the sheets as the scent of their love filled his senses.

'This is what I want everyday,' Sasuke thought as he turned back around.

"I love you Sakura," he whispered as he closed the door to his bedroom and walked down stairs. He grabbed a quick glass of water while gathering his kunai holster and headband.

Sighing, he walked out of the door.

* * *

"Oi Sasuke, you're late!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke slowly walked through the Konoha gates.

"...Yeah," he murmured wishing he was back laying on Sakura in bed.

"Well, let's go, we have to get that bastard!" Naruto yelled starting to walk off.

The group nodded as Sai, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kakashi followed the blond ninja.

Sasuke shook his head and looked back through Konoha's gates.

'What's this feeling? Something's not right here,' Sasuke frowned.

"Hey, Sasuke, let's go!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke shook the doubts in his mind and raced to catch up with the group.

* * *

Turning over in the bed, hoping to find Sasuke sleeping next to her, she found his side of the bed cold and empty. She wrinkled her nose as her eyelids fluttered open.

'I guess he left,' Sakura sadly thought as she sat up.

It was quiet, too quiet for Sakura's liking. She liked waking up to see Sasuke's sleeping face; he always looked so calm and content. She liked that. The lack of Sasuke sent a shiver up her spine; he was going to kill Kitaro.

'I guess I should be happy but, come home Sasuke,' Sakura inwardly whined, hoping he would hear her and come running back.

'Yeah, that won't happen,' Sakura sadly smiled.

Running her fingers absently over his side of the bed she reached a piece of paper. It crinkled under her touch as she carefully read its contents:

_Good Morning Sakura,_

_Sorry I couldn't be there when you woke up. I'll be back soon, don't worry about me. I told Tsunade and Ino to watch over you._

_I love you Sakura,_

_Sasuke_

Sakura smiled at the note and slowly got up off of the bed.

'Sasuke,' she thought clutching the sheet to her naked body, 'Please be careful, all of you be careful,' she thought of Sai and Kakashi's composed and laid back demeanour, Neji and Shikamaru's cool personalities and Sasuke's love for her.

"Thank you," she whispered looking out of the bedroom.

* * *

"So where is this guy?" Kakashi asked.

"To the west of Konoha, it's an old abandoned town," Neji answered with byakugan activated.

"How'd you find this guy?" Sasuke bit out.

"The named matched one that ANBU had on record for numerous crimes, seems he was one of those guys Sakura was up against in the village raid," Neji replied.

_"Sasuke, there was one last raid on the village. Whoever it was, Sakura fought for the village one last time…"_

Sasuke remembered Kakashi, Jiraiya and Tsunade explaining the mission Sakura had been sent on when she was taken. His blood boiled when he thought of what that man, if you could call him that, did to her.

"So what's the plan?" Sai questioned Kakashi.

"Well-"

"There's no plan!" Naruto cut Kakashi off, "We go in and kill the bastard!"

'For once I actually agree with the dobe,' Sasuke thought as he clenched his fists.

"Yeah, I get that Naruto but," Kakashi groaned, "we can't."

"What! We-"

"Naruto," Shikamaru started, "I know how you feel but, we have to be on guard," Shikamaru sighed as Naruto started to sound off on him, "Troublesome," he muttered at the blond ninja.

Shikamaru couldn't help but remember the dressing room scene. He felt terrible and sat with Ino all night, letting her cry on his shoulder.

"_Shikamaru I didn't mean too!" Ino cried as Shikamaru slung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his embrace._

"_I know, I know," he whispered kissing her on the head._

"_I didn't know, I never would-"_

"_It's okay, none of us knew how bad it was," Shikamaru said sadly._

"_I didn't mean too, I never thought that she was hiding those, oh Shikamaru, who could've done this to her!" Ino cried._

"_I don't know. Neji and the others are searching for something on this guy."_

"_Find him and kill him, that bastard, to do this to Sakura, I can't imagine what she's gone through!"_

"_Yeah, none of us can," Shikamaru rubbed her back gently, "Don't worry, we'll find him and Sakura will be alright, besides, Sasuke's with her."_

"_I guess so but, I just can't stand what happened to her! How could this happen? Why?!" Ino screamed holding Shikamaru's shirt in her fists._

"_I don't know, we've all been thinking the same thing just try and calm down," Shikamaru tried to soothe her._

"_I can't, I can't not when Sakura-"_

"_You have to be strong, for Sakura, she needs her friends now Ino, she needs you to help her, she needs all of us," Shikamaru surprised himself._

_He had never been that close to Sakura and neither had Neji but everyone had a special place for her in their heart. Usually he would say that this was 'troublesome' and that he would rather watch clouds but, Sakura was something special to everyone and he couldn't stand what had happened to her. She was the one on the battle field that healed everyone before herself, she was the one when training or some mission went wrong would heal you without a second thought, she was the one that held team 7 together and for that he respected her. _

"_We need to help her at all costs, after all, she would've done the same for any of us," Shikamaru finished._

"…_.Yeah…. I guess you're right," Ino sniffled into his shirt. _

"What do you mean? This is just one guy!" Naruto screeched.

"That's enough Naruto," Kakashi curtly said jumping ahead of the hyperactive ninja.

"But, but, Sakura chan!" Naruto whined.

"Naruto, we all want to get this guy but, he was an S- class criminal, we have to be ready for anything," Neji sighed as Sakura's story about one of the times she was beaten rang through his mind.

Neji remembered walking home to see TenTen after the visit with Sasuke.

"_Neji? Neji how is she? Neji?" TenTen asked shakily as he walked through the front door._

"_We told Sasuke about that guy," he whispered._

"_And? Is Sakura okay? Did you tell her I'm sorry? I mean-"_

"_It's bad TenTen," Neji whispered back, "She told us about one of the times he," Neji had never been lost for words but the story Sakura had told them made him shiver. _

"_What happened?" TenTen asked._

"_He beat her," Neji whispered as TenTen walked over to him and cried into his chest._

"_Neji, I'm sorry, I didn't know, Ino and I we didn't mean to-"_

"_I know. I saw what he did but, what she told us, it was terrible, what she must have gone through…" Neji trailed as he cradled TenTen's form. _

_Neji couldn't stop thinking of the scars he saw on her body and the memory Sakura recalled._

'_That was just one time, one time,' Neji repeated over and over in his mind._

_"Neji, what are we going to do? What' going to happen to her?" TenTen cried._

_"I don't know but, we're going to find this guy," Neji snarled as he narrowed his eyes thinking back to Sakura's fear stricken face as she recalled her beatings._

_"I want to go with-"_

_"No."_

_"But, I want to help Sakura!"_

_"You can, just be there for her, if we leave to find this guy Sasuke won't be there for her," Neji whispered._

_The thought of how Sakura was beaten was beyond belief for Neji. He remembered how she would turn down Lee's youthful dates with a smile one day and spar with him the next. He saw Sakura as a strong person who never gave up and admired that strength._

_"…."_

_"She needs all of her friends to help her through this one."_

_"Yeah….Just, find that guy," TenTen sighed shakily as Neji laid his head on top of hers._

_"We will, I promise." _

Naruto let out an exasperated sigh as Sai jumped on a tree branch next to him.

"Don't worry Naruto, when this is all over Sakura's going to be fine," he smiled his fake smile while glancing over at Sasuke.

'I wish it was that simple Sai,' Sasuke thought as the ex ANBU read his mind.

Sai saw the look of doubt pass over Sasuke's face. Sai felt it too, no matter what they did the damage had been done, Sakura would have to live with it the rest of her life.

* * *

Sakura walked down the stairs in Sasuke's old clothes as someone continued to knock on the door.

She crept up to the door and went to unlock it when a shiver ran down her spine. She couldn't help the feeling that someone was watching her, waiting for her.

'What is this feeling? What's going-'

"Sakura? It's me and TenTen, can we come in?" A strong voice called from the other side of the door.

Shaking the thought of someone watching her, Sakura opened the door to see Ino, TenTen holding some bags.

"Uh, hi Ino, TenTen," Sakura smiled letting the two girls walk into Sasuke's house.

"Hey Sakura, how are you?" TenTen asked as she dropped the two bags she was carrying to the floor.

"Okay, um, what's in the bags?" Sakura asked as Ino set her bags down next to TenTen's.

"Well, we brought you by some clothes, I hope that's okay," Ino looked at Sakura's face waiting for her to cry and run away.

'They must feel bad about yesterday,' Sakura thought as she stared down at the bags.

"Oh, um, thank you," Sakura shyly smiled.

"We felt bad about yesterday and-"TenTen started.

"No, please it's my fault, I overreacted I just, just-"

"Don't," Ino rushed over to Sakura, enveloping her in a hug, "It's not your fault, we're sorry," she finished as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry we didn't listen to you, we should've respected your privacy, we didn't mean too," TenTen said as she placed a warm hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Thank you," Sakura whispered as the two girls smiled, "thank you."

"Yeah, don't worry about it!" Ino yelled as she grabbed one of the bags, "Sasuke has _no_ style so we bought these for you!"

Sakura laughed as she looked down at her appearance. She still had on Sasuke's old shirt and pants.

"Thank you," Sakura smiled.

'That's the Sakura I remember," TenTen thought as Sakura took the bags from Ino.

"Go try them on!" Ino ushered Sakura into the bathroom while TenTen sighed.

Sakura tried on the dozens of clothes that the two girls bought for her without hesitation. She really loved wearing Sasuke's clothes, they smelled like him and she felt safe in them but, she knew she couldn't hide behind them forever.

Sakura emerged from the bathroom in the outfit she like the best, not only did it mask the scars completely on her stomach but, it looked familiar to her in many ways.

"That was quick!" TenTen exclaimed as Sakura shyly walked out.

"Yeah" Sakura smiled, 'you learn to change fast when someone wants to watch you,' Sakura remembered Kitaro's lustful gaze as he made her change in front of him.

"So, what do you think?" Sakura asked as she looked down at what she was wearing.

A tight red top started at the top of her chest and went to her waist over a black mesh top. The mesh shirt went down over of her upper arms, stopping mid way. She wore beige shorts going down to the tops of her knees, further concealing any scars she had.

"Great!" Ino yelled as she ran up and tackled Sakura.

"Yeah, it looks nice!" TenTen smiled prying Ino off of Sakura.

"Um, thank you," Sakura laughed at the two girls in front of her.

* * *

"Neji do you see it? Do you see it?" Naruto yelled in the Neji's ear.

"Stop it dickless! He can't concentrate with your annoying voice in his ear!" Sai jumped to the side of Naruto and hit him over the head.

"Sai!" Naruto yelled holding his head and glaring at this team mate.

"I see it," Neji started looking ahead, "It's not far, just a little further," he replied.

Sasuke clenched his fists as he sprinted up to where Neji was leading the team.

"Can you see _him_?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"….Yes."

* * *

Dun dun DUN!

Ohh, they found Kitaro, grr, i hate him!

Well, find out what happens when i update next! Hee hee, keep reviewing, it helps me update quicker!

Luv ya guys who are continueing to read and love this story!

Thanks!

Slyvia over and OUT!


	10. Final Loss

Hey all, Slyvia here!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the Reviews, thanx guys!

Here is the next chappie, i'm going on vacation so i won't be updating for a while but after that i will!

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Let's go," Sasuke snarled as he grabbed a kunai from his holster.

"Wait," Neji narrowed his eyes, "he's not alone."

"How many?" Kakashi asked jumping up to Neji.

"….Eight," Neji replied reaching for Sasuke's kunai, "Don't do anything rash, we can't afford to get reckless."

Sasuke huffed as he returned his kunai to his holster, glaring daggers.

"We can take them! Let's go!" Neji rolled his eyes as Naruto ran past them.

"Troublesome idiot," Shikamaru muttered, "Naruto! Hold on, we can't just barge into this battle. We don't know what kind of shinobi these guys are."

"So?! I'm going to kill that bastard!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke turned around with his sharingan blazing.

"Sasuke?" Naruto whispered, slightly scared by his burning red eyes.

"Leave him to me," Sasuke bit out.

* * *

"Sakura?" Ino asked as she sat down next to Sakura on the couch.

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, uh, I'm just….worried," Sakura whispered.

"About Sasuke?" TenTen smiled as she sat on the other side of Sakura.

"….yeah, I just…I don't know," Sakura shook her head as she stood up.

Walking over to the fireplace mantle, she looked at the numerous picture frames. She recognized Sasuke in some of them along with his mother and father. She smiled sadly as she looked at Itachi's face, realizing that he was the one that caused Sasuke so much pain.

'He looked so happy back then,' Sakura thought as she touched the dust on one of the pictures.

"Sakura?" Ino asked.

"I miss him," Sakura whispered turning around and smiling.

"Yeah, I know but," TenTen laughed, "he'll be back soon."

Ino nodded in agreement as Sakura laughed at them.

"Do you miss Neji and Shikamaru?" Sakura asked sitting between her two friends.

"Yeah, the house is kind of boring without Neji," TenTen sighed.

"Oh yeah," Ino said sarcastically, "Because Neji is _so_ entertaining and all."

Dodging a glare from TenTen, Ino snickered, "Shikamaru can be a pain but, yeah, I miss him."

"Don't worry Sakura; Sasuke's going to be alright, besides," TenTen giggled, "he's too afraid of Naruto to die."

"What?" Sakura raised an eyebrow as Ino and TenTen started laughing hysterically.

"Well," Ino wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, "Naruto said that if Sasuke ever hurt you again, he would kill him and then haunt his spirit!"

"Uh, right," Sakura stuttered.

"Yeah, an eternity of Naruto?" TenTen shuddered dramatically, "Now _that_ is worse than being tortured!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked down at her hands.

"Yeah," Sakura whispered.

"Oh no, Sakura, I didn't mean that," TenTen cried putting her hands over her mouth.

"Sakura, it just slipped. We didn't mean-" Ino was cut off when Sakura smiled at them.

"I know, I know," Sakura repeated laughing lightly, "Everything's going to be alright, everything is going to be fine." Sakura repeated looking into their eyes.

"Yeah," both Kunoichi smiled.

'You're the strongest person I know Sakura,' Ino thought, 'I hope you're right.'

* * *

"So this is it right?" Sai asked as he hid behind a large tree waiting for Neji's confirmation.

"Yeah, that guy matches Sakura's description and the ANBU report," Neji replied crouching behind a row of bushes.

Sasuke leapt down next to Neji as his sharingan spun. He could clearly see eight bodies of chakra and knew one of them was Kitaro's.

'This is it, Sakura,' Sasuke thought, 'you won't be in anymore pain.' Hands already clenched, he started moving when Neji stopped him.

"Calm down Sasuke," Neji whispered looking back into the house as the men started moving.

"Oi Neji!" Naruto shouted only to be smacked up side the head by Shikamaru.

"Owww!" Naruto whispered clutching his head.

"Dickless, we don't want to get caught!" Sai whispered harshly.

"Tch, Neji what are they saying? Can you hear them? What are they saying?" Naruto repeated glaring at the house.

"Dobe, he's got the byakugan not ultrasonic hearing!" Sasuke growled rolling his eyes.

Sasuke was thrown from his thoughts as a kunai whizzed past his head.

'Shit,' Sasuke thought as he noticed the explosive tag attached to the kunai.

"Damn it!" He heard Naruto shout as four more explosions went off behind them.

Sasuke jumped away from the brush as he caught sight of Neji doing the same. Byakugan activated, Neji pointed out another explosive tag to the right of Sasuke.

Jumping back, Sasuke saw Naruto and Kakashi on the tree limp next to them and Sai and Shikamaru behind on another branch.

"Well, well, well," A figure chuckled in the smoke of the explosions, "It seems I have some un- welcomed guests."

Sasuke clenched his fists as he caught a glimpse of two yellow eyes staring back at him.

"Kitaro," Sasuke glared.

"Oh, so you know my name," Kitaro snickered as he walked closer to the Uchiha.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes while drawing a kunai, "Bastard," he muttered.

"Oh," Kitaro laughed as seven more figures gathered around him, "such strong words, I assume you're here to….talk?" he mused.

"You die here," Sasuke growled, throwing some kunai.

Dodging the kunai, Kitaro smiled, "I don't think so, besides, you have something that belongs to me."

'Sakura,' Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Oi, bastard!" A loud voice rang from behind Sasuke, "Sakura chan doesn't belong to you!" Naruto yelled.

"Tch," Kitaro sneered as the men beside him started laughing, "I'll leave them to you," he motioned to Sasuke's companions, "I'll take care of this one."

Smirking, Sasuke watched Kitaro through his Sharingan.

'This bastard's dead,' Sasuke thought as Kitaro merely laughed.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke asked as he stared at the man's yellow eyes.

'Something's not right here, something's wrong,' Sasuke's mind yelled as Kitaro continued to laugh, 'He's not even worried. It's not just his confidence but, something else, there's something wrong with this,' Sasuke repeated over in his head as Sai and Naruto charged at Kitaro's companions.

"Well, let's get this over with," Kitaro chuckled drawing to kunai in his hands, "Someone's waiting for me," he leered meaning Sakura.

"Hn, she's not going anywhere with you," Sasuke growled deflecting the two kunai Kitaro had thrown.

"No?" Kitaro laughed, "We'll see."

Growling, Sasuke launched forward drawing the blade strapped to his back and lunged towards Kitaro. Anticipating his attack, Kitaro drew his own katana and met Sasuke's.

Smirking, Sasuke jumped back and ran an electric current through the blade.

"Tch," Kitaro growled as Sasuke lunged at him again, effectively slashing his blade across his abdomen.

Kitaro grunted as he tried to throw more kunai in Sasuke's direction but was stopped when Sasuke punched the side of his face.

Flying into the ground, Kitaro muttered some small curses as Sasuke steadied himself.

'What's this feeling? I can't get rid of it, why do I feel like something isn't right? Why?' Sasuke thought as ran towards Kitaro's battered body on the ground.

Upon seeing him coming, Kitaro rolled away from Sasuke's sword and rapidly made hand signs. Smirking, Sasuke followed the sign as the earth started to shake.

Two dragons appeared out of the ground, crashing into each other and exploding as the two ninja jumped out of the way.

"Damn," Kitaro muttered, "Sharingan."

Sasuke smiled, as he caught sight of Kitaro's chakra in the dust and made some hand signs.

Taking in a breath he shouted, "Fire style, grand fireball jutsu!"

Flames surged forth as the dust disintegrated in the air. Kitaro jumped back bring up his arms to guard his face from the flames.

"Damn it!" Kitaro screeched as Sasuke sprung through the flames.

Kitaro tried to dodge Sasuke's sword but, with the Sharingan, Sasuke had the advantage.

"You're good," Kitaro laughed clutching his left arm as blood trailed down it, "but you're holding back."

Kitaro limped on his legs as kunai stuck out from his left and bleeding flesh rolled off of his right from the fire. Sasuke's katana slashed through his left side and put holes into his back as Kitaro struggled to breathe.

"Heh," Sasuke laughed as he heard Naruto use his shadow clone jutsu and Neji his eight trigrams one hundred and twenty eight palms, "You'll pay for what you did to her."

"So, you plan to kill me slowly then?" Kitaro smiled: his fire red hair dishevelled and various cuts adorning his face "Drag out my death until you feel you've avenged her right? Is that it?"

'Something's wrong, he barely tried to fight me back, why?' Sasuke wondered inching closer to Kitaro.

"…." Sasuke glared at the man while summoning his chakra into his blade.

'You'll never hurt her again,' Sasuke thought while gathering all of his chakra.

Falling to his knees, Kitaro coughed up blood.

'Something's still not right, he let me win, this was too easy,' Sasuke thought as he heard Shikamaru snap the last of Kitaro's men's neck with his shadow bind technique.

The fighting quickly died down as Kakashi's lightening blade cut through one man and Sai's paper tiger rip through another.

"Do you think she'll love you now?" Kitaro laughed as blood spurted from his mouth.

"…?"

"You're a monster," Kitaro laughed.

"No," Sasuke growled raising his blade towards Kitaro, "you're the monster, she-"

"It looks like we have something in common then."

"What!?" Sasuke yelled, more chakra running through his blade as he grabbed Kitaro around the neck.

"Do you really think she'll love you now?" Kitaro struggled in Sasuke's grip, "You abandoned her, left her alone," he repeated, smiling with his bloodied teeth.

'He's crazy, he doesn't even make any sense,' Sasuke thought, squinting his eyes in confusion.

"What are you talking about? You're insane," Sasuke stared in disbelief, "you'll die here. You'll never be able to hurt her again!"

"She's all alone now, and you left her, she's all alone, just" he sung smirking at Sasuke, "waiting for me to come for her."

"Oi, Sasuke what is he talking about?" Kakashi asked walking up behind Sasuke.

"I don't kn-"

"She'll never escape me now, I've got her right where I want her," Kitaro continued to sing as Sai, Shikamaru, Neji and Naruto walked up next to Kakashi staring at the scene before them.

"What the hell?" Sai shook his head as he gave a sideways glance towards Shikamaru and Neji.

"She's mine," Kitaro laughed, "She's all mine, she always was and," he coughed, "always will be."

"Sasuke," Neji whispered.

'What's this feeling? I can't shake it, what's wrong with this guy?' Sasuke hesitated.

"You can't kill me because," Kitaro trailed off.

"Enough of this," Sasuke sneered as he rammed his katana through Kitaro's heart, watching the electricity flow through his body.

Kitaro shook as his eyes widened and rolled back into his head. He screamed as the electricity slowly fried his internal organs, killing him from the inside out.

Sasuke and the others watched in sick fascination as Sasuke dropped Kitaro's body and let it writhe on the ground.

When Kitaro stopped shaking Sasuke bent down and grabbed his neck, "I only wish she was here to watch this," he whispered.

"Heh," Kitaro's broken voice rang, "You can't kill me, she's all alone waiting for me, and when I find her…." Kitaro coughed as his bloodshot eyes bled, "I'll make her mine. She'll scream my name and beg me, oh yes, I'll drink up her blood as I rip off her fingers…"

"He's crazy, he's insane," Naruto shivered.

"Sasuke, finish him," Sai said, cringing as Kitaro continued.

"…I'll break her body and bend it to mine, she'll be mine, and I'll watch as her eyes glaze over and tear out her heart…."

"You sick bastard!" Sasuke screamed as he pulled a kunai and slashed it across Kitaro's throat.

Gagging for breath, Kitaro whispered, "You can't kill me Sasuke," he haggardly laughed, "…….because you're already dead."

With Kitaro's last words Sasuke looked down at his body. His eyes widened when he heard a faint click.

Trying to jump back, Kitaro's body exploded, a signal, as other explosions echoed around the shinobi.

A bright light consumed the small area as the trees became only shadows and the birds disintegrated in the searing beams. The ground shook with each blast and Naruto cries and Kakashi's warnings fainted in the glow.

Then, all was quiet.

* * *

Dun dun DUN!

So what did you think?

Kitaro's CRAZY but then again, he is a maniac!

REVIEW REVIEW I, if you are all very good, might update BEFORE i go on vacation, depends on the reviews!

Over and OUT, Slyvia!


	11. Shattered Glass

Hey all Slyvia here again!

Thanks soooooo much for the Reviews!

As i promised, if i felt like it, i would update before i left, well here is the next chappie, i hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Sakura? Sakura? Are you alright?" Ino asked as Sakura dropped her tea cup, shattering it.

'What's this feeling? Something's wrong, something's wrong,' Sakura repeated in her mind as her eyes widened.

"Sakura!" TenTen yelled as she nudged Sakura, "What's wrong?"

"…Sasuke," Sakura whispered staring down at the floor.

Six pieces. The tea cup shattered into six pieces as Sakura stared down at them. They all were spread out; each piece: cracked and chipped.

'Naruto, Neji, Sai, Kakashi, Shikamaru,' Sakura thought, "Sasuke," she whispered.

Stooping down, Sakura grabbed two pieces of the cup and pieced them together. The two pieces fit together but each had its own chunks and bits taken out of it.

Trembling, she dropped the pieces and turned to TenTen, "Something's wrong."

"Sakura, I'm sure everything's alright," TenTen laughed as Ino bent over and picked up the pieces of the broken cup.

"Yeah, we're all worried but," Ino looked up and smiled, "the guys are just fine."

"No, something's not right, something's wrong," Sakura pleaded, still trembling.

Something was wrong; Sakura looked out towards the window and noticed the sky. The pale blue sky was replaced by sorrow filled darkness. The somber clouds stretched across the sky as small eruptions of thunder sounded.

Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that Sasuke was in trouble. Naruto and the others, they were in trouble too. She shivered as soft pellets of rain started to dot the window.

"Looks like there's going to be a storm," Ino sighed returning from disposing of the broken fragments in the kitchen.

"Yeah, looks bad," TenTen agreed.

"Sakura," Ino started, seeing Sakura shiver with each roll of thunder, "it's just a storm."

"Yeah, don't worry, we're here!" TenTen shouted wrapping her arm around Sakura's shoulders.

"…yeah but-"

"Sakura!" Ino shouted cutting Sakura off, "we're just going to have a girl's night! Everything's going to be fine, don't worry!"

'I wish you right Ino, I wish you were,' Sakura thought as she looked back outside the window, 'Sasuke, where are you?'

* * *

"Oh no!" TenTen yelled as the lights flickered on and off, "looks like we lost power," she groaned as the lights finally shut off.

"…yeah," Ino sighed, "I'll go get some candles or something…" she trailed, disappearing in the darkness.

"The storm's really picking up," Sakura shivered as she tried looking out the window.

She could barely see the outline of the trees as the sheets of rain pelted the house. Sasuke. She wondered if he was out there. She wondered if Naruto was complaining about not having ramen and that if Sai and Kakashi were hitting him upside the head. She wondered if Sasuke was hurrying them along. She wondered if he missed her.

'Please, come home, please,' Sakura begged as she saw a tiny flicker of illumination out of the corner of her eye.

"Found some candles!" Ino cheered as a flash of lightening sliced through the sky.

"Jeez," TenTen laughed as the rapture of sound came forth, "that was loud!"

"Yeah, I hope everything's alright…" Ino trailed going over to the window.

"Why?" Sakura asked as Ino handed her a small candle.

"It's really coming down," Ino leaned against the window sill, "the rain and all."

"Yeah, I'm sure glad we're in here-"

"Open the door! Open the door! Ino, TenTen! Hurry!" Someone shouted, continuing to bang on the door.

"Who the hell?" Ino asked as she ran over to the door.

Opening the door, three drenched ANBU walked into the house.

"What do you want?" Ino asked as TenTen walked up beside her.

"We were ordered to find all shinobi and bring them to the Hokage's office," one yelled, straightening his posture.

"Guess you spoke too soon TenTen," Ino sighed.

"Guess so…" TenTen trailed.

"The village is flooding. The homes along the south side are being washed away!" Another shouted, "You need to come with us!"

"Alright," Ino and TenTen nodded as they picked up their kunai and jonin vests from the couch.

"Sakura," TenTen smiled, "please, stay here, we'll be back soon."

"But, I can help, I can-" Sakura stopped.

What could she do. She couldn't finish that sentence. She wanted to help but, she couldn't. How was she supposed to help? Her fingers twitched as she caught a memory of her on the battle field, running between fallen shinobi. Hovering over them, she ran her glowing green hands over their chests and legs. Bruises, broken bones, and gashes disappeared as the young and old shinobi rose and began to fight again.

Another memory flooded her mind as kunai were thrown in each direction. Without hesistation she punched the ground, creating a massive crater and throwing several men to their deaths beneath the cracking stones. She remembered the feeling of her chakra. The feeling of it running through her body as she fought to save a child.

She remembered the village. She remembered the kind townspeople as she arrived, welcoming her as their savior to defeat the enemy shinobi. She trained them to fight, she healed their elders and protected their children as the enemy attacked the village.

'That was me, I protected them,' Sakura thought as she remembered two yellow eyes staring at her across the field.

* * *

_"You're pretty brave, Konoha kunoichi," the yellow eyes gleamed in amusement._

_"Who are you?" Sakura bit out as blood flowed from the numerous kunai stuck in her back. Her arm had been pulled out of the socket as she summoned what little chakra she had and punched the ground beneath her._

_"Strong too," the man laughed as she slashed her kunai across a man's stomach, effectively killing him._

_She trudged toward the man with yellow eyes as he smirked._

_"Beautiful..." he trailed as he dodged a chakra infused punch from Sakura._

_He whippped a few kunai at her with only a few strikin their target. Sakura grunted as she picked up a fallen shinobi's katana and charged at the red haired man. Tired, she was tired and both she and he knew it. She couldn't last long._

_Sakura fell to the ground, coughing up blood as she was kicked in the side. Her battered body fell to the ground as she laid gasping for air. He stood over her form as her defiant eyes glared at him. Defiance, he was impressed._

_She amused him._

_Aiming true, Sakura raised a kunai and slashed it across his gut. Gasping out he fell backwards as she summoned what little chakra she had left into her palm._

_One last blow, one more punch and he was dead._

_Just one more..._

_With a flick of the wrist, Sakura punched down on his stomach, feeling the ribs shatter in at her touch._

_'This is it, he's done,' Sakura thought as she fell backwards into darkness, ignoring the small cloud puff next to her._

_She failed to notice that she punched a clone and not him. Falling into darkness, he only chuckled. _

* * *

"But-"

"Sorry Sakura, I have to go now, see you later!" Ino yelled as she slammed the door shut, following TenTen into the rain.

Running to the window, Sakura watched Ino's bright blond hair fade into the dismal rain. They ran out of her sight. Watching them go and help people, she wished she was out there with them. She wanted to help, to be the shinobi she knew she once was. Helpless, that's what she was, just a scared, lonely little girl.

"Sasuke, where are you?" she whispered into the darkness as two yellow eyes watched from above.

* * *

Ohhhhh, i'm just so evil, leaving you all like this!

Hahahahaha cough cough hack up hairball! Ugh!

Hee hee, well i have a wicked little twist now don't I!

Well, i will be going on vacation now!

See ya soon!

Updates will be next week!

Slyvia OUTTA HERE!


	12. One Last Breath

Hey all, Slyvia here!

I love the reviews! Keep them a coming!

Here's the next chappie for all my fans of this fic! I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

_"Sasuke, where are you?"_

'Sakura?'

"….Sakura?" Sasuke whispered as her voice echoed through his mind, "Sakura?"

'What's going on? What's happening to her?' Sasuke wondered as Sakura's voice continued to call out to him.

_"Sasuke, come back, please!"_

'What's wrong?' Sasuke thought as an image of Sakura flashed before him.

_Sitting at the window and staring at the rain, she called out to him._

_"Sasuke…" She trailed as a tear ran down her face._

'Sakura?' Sasuke wondered as the scene changed as a shadowed figure loomed over her with a kunai.

_Yellow eyes. Yellow piercing sick eyes gleamed down at her. Sakura sat on the ground, crying as the kunai was raised above her head._

_"_Sakura! Move!" Sasuke tried to call out.

_The figure stepped into the hazy moonlight and smirked._

_"Your too late," he growled, "your always late."_

_"Sasuke, help me…" Sakura cried as the kunai came down into the side of her neck._

"No! Sakura! Sakura!" Sasuke yelled as her body fell to the floor.

_Blood, bright crimson blood pooled around her body as her eyes stared at him. Stare, all he could do was stare at her bright pink hair, glistening in her sticky blood. Her body stopped moving with each breath as the blood washed over her face. Consumed by the flowing red liquid she was lost in it's wake. _

* * *

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled opening his eyes.

'What the hell happened? Sakura…' he thought as he tried to sit up.

Groaning at the pain, he pushed himself up off of the ground, staring at where the forest he had been fighting in used to be. Branches of tree lay strewn across the clearing as massive craters dotted the ground where he had been walking.

'That bastard…' Sasuke thought as he struggled to move his legs.

_"You can't kill me Sasuke," he haggardly laughed, "…….because you're already dead."_

Sasuke remembered Kitaro's last words before the giant explosion went off.

'He set us up,' Sasuke inwardly cursed, 'he knew we were coming! Damn it!'

Sitting fully up, Sasuke doubled over in pain. His shoulder gushed blood as part of a branch stuck out from his lower side.

Grunting, the Uchiha grabbed the branch lodged in his abdomen and, biting his lip, pulled the piece out.

He adjusted his eyes as five other dark blobs littered the area. He noticed one particular black and orange shirt and crawled over to it.

"…Naruto? Naruto?" Sasuke whispered, moving his blood caked lips.

No answer.

Naruto laid still on his stomach as Sasuke nudged him.

"Wake up! Come on you idiot! Wake up!" Sasuke hoarsely yelled, trying to hit Naruto harder.

No reply.

Blood seeped around Naruto's face as Sasuke growled in frustration.

"Come on dobe, Sakura's in trouble! Get the hell up!" He screeched shaking Naruto as hard as he could.

'Come on, I can't do this alone!' Sasuke pleaded, 'Sakura, that bastard's going after her! I have to stop him!' Sasuke continued to hit Naruto until he heard coughing.

"…Sas-…Sasuke?" Naruto coughed, spurting blood from his mouth.

"Come on Naruto, get up, we have to go, now!" Sasuke yelled, trying to flip Naruto over with his one good arm, "Move!"

"Sasuke," Naruto panted, wiping the blood away from his mouth and eyes, "What happened?"

"We were caught in an explosion," a lazy haggard voice said from behind Sasuke.

"Shikamaru?" Naruto asked as the shadow ninja limped over to the two lying on the ground.

"Troublesome…" he muttered.

"What about the others? Can they move? Sakura's-"

"We know Sasuke," Sai's emotionless voice choked.

"Sai?" Sasuke asked looking over to the artist trembling to get up.

"It was a trap," Shikamaru's voice shook as he swayed to the side, "we thought we'd have the enemy by surprise but…" he started coughing up blood as he cradled his chest.

Blood seeped through his fingers from his wound as he continued to struggle to stand.

"We fell for it," a deep voice whispered from behind Naruto.

"Neji?" Naruto asked as the Hyuuga crawled over to where Kakashi was trying to sit up.

"He lured us to this spot to kill us," Neji continued.

"Uhhh, not that I'm not happy about this but…." Naruto crookedly smiled, "shouldn't we be dead then?"

"Hn…" Sasuke glowered at his teamate.

"Yeah, we should," Sai tried to fake smile, "but, if Neji hadn't seen the explosives a second before they went off well…I think you can guess."

Naruto's smile dropped as Sasuke looked around at them, all trying to make their bodies move. Each of their brains trying to send a signal to their legs to move. Their arms, their eyes, their hearts. Each move they made, they seemed to be fighting the will to fall back down and go to sleep.

Death. They all were fighting death.

"We have to move, he's going after her!" Sasuke yelled.

Ignoring the pain in his side and shoulder he stood up shakily, stumbling to and fro. Gravity was against him.

He shook with pain but thought back to his dream: Sakura was in danger. He swore to protect her. He promised.

He staggered as blood oozed from his dirty wounds.

'Hm, even my own body's against me…' Sasuke thought bitterly.

The calm of death and darkness ebbed in the back of his mind. It tempted each of the shinobi. But Sasuke wouldn't listen. Sakura's face kept him going, if he was going to fight death to see her smile again than he would do it. If he had to stare down death, he would do it for her love. To be held in her arms one more time, no, forever. He wouldn't give up, not now. He had come too far to watch everything fall again.

"We have to go, we have to help her!" Sasuke yelled hoping to turn around and see Naruto fully healed with Neji activating his byakugan and Sai, Shikamaru and Sai planning a strategy.

But that would've have been too easy. A dream, only a hopeful gallant dream.

Sai sat trembling on the ground, light touching a deep gash at the side of his neck and gasping for breath. His lungs constricted his breathing as his eyes lulled back and forth in his head.

Sasuke shook as he looked back towards Shikamaru. Still swaying, Shikamaru's leg glowed black and blue at the knee where he had tried to put the bones back in place. His shirt was the stained with his blood as he tried to pull his skin back over the large hole in his chest.

Kakashi. If anyone would be okay it would be him. Hopeful, Sasuke turned to his sensei only to see him leaning off of an unstable Neji. His mask was darkened with dirt and halfway ripped off of his face. In Sasuke's genin days, he would've paid attention to how the fabric showed almost half of Kakashi's entire face. But this wasn't the time. They jonin was soaked in blood, his sharingan eye was fluttering open with his natural black eye, swooning in and out of consciousness with the bright red gash on the side of his head.

If Kakashi looked bad, Neji was even worse. They byakugan user's usual white shirt was painted over in dark red blood. Neji panted as his mouth dripped of blood. His flesh hung off of his side as tiny rocks and a long piece of branch stuck through the skin.

Naruto. Naruto was Sasuke's last hope.

"Naruto?"

The kyuubi had already begun it's healing but, it wasn't enough. The blond ninja's face ran red with his blood as his once blond hair was stained. He clutched his left arm as more blood ran down it onto the ground beside him. Naruto, his only shot was in no better condition than the rest of them. The one hyperactive knuckle head ninja was out of commission.

"We have to move, we have to help her!" Sasuke yelled as the fire that burned bright in each of their eyes slowly died.

The anger they felt for what happened to Sakura diminished. Sasuke searched their tired faces and trembling eyes looking for their will. But there was none.

Finished. They had had enough.

"Sasuke…" Sai panted, grabbing a hold of his chest.

Death wouldn't stop him. He wouldn't love Sakura now only to die and leave her again. He wouldn't let her face her 'master's' rage and torture for a year only to stop now. He wouldn't let her be alone. Death. He laughed slightly. Death wouldn't keep him away from her, ever.

"No!" Sasuke screeched inching closer to them, "We can't leave her! He's going to go after her! He's going to kill her!" he screamed.

Shikamaru's eyes lowered to the ground, remembering Ino's words.

"_Find him and kill him, that bastard, to do this to Sakura, I can't imagine what she's gone through!"_

"Come on!" Sasuke yelled, more blood filling his mouth, "We have to help her! We can't leave her!"

Neji looked into Sasuke dark eyes, seeing the fear and terror. A shinobi should never show their emotions but now, Sasuke were presented for the whole world to see.

"_Yeah….Just, find that guy," TenTen sighed shakily as Neji laid his head on top of hers._

_"We will, I promise." _

Neji tried to straighten his stance, never forgetting his promise to TenTen to help Sakura.

"We can't do this to her, not again, not again," Sasuke shakily shook his head.

Sai looked up from his position on the ground at his teamate and stared.

He could still hear Sakura's pain in her voice as she relayed one of the beatings to them.

_"He wouldn't stop until I admitted it; he just kept stabbing and laughing at me until I said it."_

Kakashi finally caught a clear view of Sasuke's fear stricken face. The day Sakura finally let them in on what Kitaro put her through made his heart bleed.

_"How many times did he hurt you that time?"_

"_Thirteen," she whispered clutching the middle of her chest, "he wouldn't stop until I stopped screaming for help."_

"We can't abandon her! Not like last time, we can't leave her alone again!" Sasuke screeched as Naruto's head shot up.

Naruto started to cry as he recalled the day she ran away from them.

"_No you didn't! No you never cared! You left me with him! You just left me to die! You left me all alone with him! With him!" She yelled, "You let him do that, you let him, him," she mumbled._

"We have to go…" Sasuke whispered as he saw no difference in their eyes.

"Let's go," Naruto bit out stumbling over to Sasuke.

"Right," Neji coughed, "we're going to save her this time. We're going to stop him Sasuke."

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed, "we'll kill him this time."

"Let's go, we have to hurry if," Sai gasped standing on his feet.

"Sasuke, we're not letting him get away," Kakashi drawled, wheezing with every strained breath, "He'll pay for what he did."

A long breath. A relived breath. Sasuke turned towards the sun peaking over the clouds and smiled. He would save her; she'd be rid of her nightmare. Once and for all.

"Come on," Sasuke called behind him, "It's going to take us longer to get back. We have to leave now!"

Sasuke started to move his legs when Kakashi voice cut through, "Wait! We'll never make it back to Konoha like this at least, not in time."

Without warning Kakashi drew a scroll from his chest pocket and ran a bloody finger down the middle of it.

"Summoning Jutsu!" he rasped as a puff of smoke splashed across the clearing.

Each shinobi staggered from the loss of visibility only to hear dog barks and panting.

"If we're going to make it back to Konoha, we're going to need some help," the copy nin laughed.

"Pakkun?" Sai asked incredulously.

"Hey, Kakashi sensei how is that little mutt going to carry us?!" Naruto screeched.

"I'm not you idiot!" Pakkun yelled, "they are!" he lifted his paw towards the other six dogs panting behind him.

Naruto shut up as Sasuke trudged over to one of the dogs and leaned against him. Without hesitation the dog laid down and let Sasuke sit on his back, dampening his fur with his blood.

Each other dog did the same to the others as they all boarded their dogs and glanced around at each other.

"Let's go!" Kakashi called as the ninja dogs sped forth through the cleared out forest.

'Hold on Sakura,' Sasuke pleaded as his dog jumped up and down across boulders, 'Hold on.'

* * *

There! Sasuke and all didn't die, they just look like it!

Oh well, that's what medics are for!

HEHEHE! Next time we'll see what happens!

I uploaded my Neji Sakura fic, it's call All I Need, check it out!

Well tell me what you think!

Slyvia out!


	13. Devil's Flaming Hell

Okay, Slyvia here,

Here's the next chapter, I love everyone that has reviewed, you guys rock!

Well i hope you like it! Review REVIEW!

* * *

"Sasuke come home…." Sakura whispered, watching her reflection wash away by the rain hitting the window.

'Come home now Sasuke, please be okay,' Sakura prayed.

The rain pelted the roof as lightening coursed through the sky. Sakura knew that Sasuke and the others were probably caught in the storm. She could imagine Naruto annoying everyone with wanting Ramen as Sai called him dickless and Kakashi keeping Naruto from killing Sai. Shikamaru was probably saying how 'troublesome' he was being while Neji just sighed and shook his head.

And Sasuke.

He was probably annoyed by Naruto and Sai and yet watched in amusement as Kakashi held Naruto back from Sai.

"Sasuke, please be safe…" Sakura trailed, letting a tear roll down the side of her face. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, that Sasuke was in trouble and she couldn't do anything about it.

Sakura's eyes widened as a small thud echoed behind her. The room tensed as a malicious voice crept up behind her, "I missed you...Sakura."

* * *

"Sakura…." Sasuke whispered as he hunched over one of Kakashi's enormous hound dogs, grunting in pain whenever the dog jumped over a large bush or boulder.

'Something's not right, something's wrong….' Sasuke trailed as he continued to lead the group back to Konoha.

"Sasuke…" Naruto crookedly smiled, racing to get next to him, "She's going to be alright. Everything's going to be okay."

"He's still out there Naruto…."

"Don't worry, we're going to get him," Naruto smiled as the rest of the group followed close behind.

"Sasuke," Sai choked, "Ino and TenTen are with her, they wouldn't let anything happen."

Sai panted as his lungs constricted inside his chest and gave a small smile to Sasuke.

No matter what any of them said, Sasuke didn't believe them. He could see the weariness on their faces, if they did come to face Kitaro, they wouldn't be much of a fight. He wouldn't be much of a fight for him.

Sasuke fought with his body to keep going. His mind wandered back to Sakura, seeing her smile and with every ounce of spirit he had, he wanted to see it again.

'Hold on Sakura, I'm coming.'

* * *

Two arms snaked around Sakura's waist as she struggled in their grasp. She screamed as he roughly turned her around to face him, his cruel yellow eyes smirking in the darkness.

'No, no, he can't be here! He can't be here!' Sakura screamed in her mind as Kitaro jerked her face to see his.

"Have you forgotten me Sakura?" He cackled as tears flowed from her eyes.

She shivered against his touch as his hands started to roam down her sides as she screamed, "Get away from me! Stay away!"

She brought her knee up as Kitaro grunted in pain. Quickly she bolted towards the door, stumbling to run in straight line.

'If he's here, where's Sasuke?' Sakura thought as she scrambled to the door.

"Foolish woman, why must you be so stubborn?" Kitaro laughed as he reached into his kunai holster.

"I'm going to break you this time," He laughed as he threw a round of kunai into her back.

She doubled over in pain as each knife dug itself into her skin.

She stumbled back as the blood ran down her back.

'I have to get out of here, I have to get help!' She cried as she tried to crawl to the door.

"Leaving already?" Kitaro laughed again as he grabbed her ankle, dragging her under him, "I don't think so; I've only begun to have my fun."

Sakura squirmed under his body as he stratled her waist, raising her arms above her head.

'No, I can't let him do this! I can't let him win!' Sakura panicked as she thrashed her legs, 'No, he won't win!' She cried as she ripped one arm away from his and clawed at his face, breaking the skin across his nose and right eye.

"You little bitch!" Kitaro cried as he brought his arms up to nurse his wounds.

Throwing him off of her, Sakura tried to get up but, she was stopped when Kitaro grabbed her neck.

"Now that wasn't very nice blossom," he croaked as he threw her back into the glass coffee table.

Sakura grunted as the glass shattered beneath her body. Each piece broke, stabbing her skin with each crack. She coughed up blood as she struggled to get up, ignoring the pain in her back and sides from being cut.

Blood continued to drench her body as she scrambled to her feet.

"Leave me alone! Just leave me alone!" She screamed as he drew some shuriken from his back pouch.

"Hmmm, I don't think so," he laughed as he brought the cool pieces of metal up to his face, "You're mine."

Sakura blinked as the shuriken flew through the air.

She closed her eyes, remembering the kunai that had almost killed her during the chunnin exams. She remembered Sasuke and her had been under Orochimaru's genjutsu and couldn't move. They had seen their own deaths before their eyes. In an effort to kill them, Orochimaru threw kunai towards her.

Sakura blinked again as she remembered Sasuke jumping to push her out of the way, taking her to safety up in a tree.

The shuriken came closer to her face as she wished Sasuke was there to save her again. She wished someone would be there to step in front of her and protect her.

A memory flashed before her eyes as Sasuke's back came into view. She had been protecting the bridge builder, shielding him from being attacked by enemy chunnin when Sasuke appeared in front of her. Arms spread wide, he glared at the two chunnin, saving Sakura from being hit.

'Sasuke's not here. He's not going to protect me this time,' Sakura thought as she ducked to the side of the shuriken, trying to run towards the kitchen.

* * *

"Sakura…" Sasuke whispered as his heart wrenched in his chest. He couldn't stand being away from her, he knew something was going on, he knew something bad was happening to her.

He could see her tear stricken face, contorted in pain and agony.

'She's in trouble,' Sasuke glared, 'And I can't help her.'

"We're almost there," Neji tried to shout, de activating his byakugan, "A few more miles and we'll be in Konoha."

"Don't worry Sasuke," Kakashi drawled, heaving with each breath, "We'll track this guy down again and we'll kill him."

"Hn…"

"Sasuke," Neji started, "He's not going to get near her if she's in Konoha. She's well protected," the Hyuuga huffed.

"Yeah, I hope you're right," Sasuke muttered.

* * *

"Leave me alone!" Sakura screamed as she ran into the kitchen, knocking over various chairs and throwing open cabinet doors, trying to stall Kitaro for as much time as she had.

Kitaro walked over the fallen chairs and past the open cabinets, snickering as she scrambled to try and find a weapon.

Sakura stopped at one drawer and pulled out a long kitchen knife, holding it out in front of her face.

Kitaro laughed at her mock bravery, "Oh, put that down before you hurt yourself…' he chuckled walking closer to her.

"Get away from me!" Sakura screamed as she slashed through the air with the knife.

Kitaro caught her arm and twisted it, making her drop the knife while he backed her up against the wall. He laughed at her wide green eyes, petrified and shaking with horror.

"Now Sakura," he smirked putting his nose against her neck, "Why'd you run away from me? We could have had so much fun together…"

"Please, please just leave me alone!" Sakura screamed as he dragged a kunai across the side of her face.

"You know," Kitaro began as he raised her trembling left hand above her head, "I never could stop thinking of you. I couldn't get you out of my mind, your face, those eyes," he smirked as he ran his fingertips over her face, "this body. You're so beautiful…" he trailed as he stabbed the kunai threw her hand into the wall.

Sakura screamed in agony as she tried to move her hand but, it was stuck.

'No, I have to get away from him!' Sakura screamed in her mind.

Sakura scoured her memories, trying to hunt down the ones of her as a shinobi. Anything, she just needed to find something to help her. Sasuke wasn't going to come and save her, he wasn't going to jump through the window to her rescue. No, not this time.

She was alone. All alone.

"Aww, Sakura," Kitaro jerked her face towards his, "he's not coming to save you, you're mine."

Kitaro pressed his lips onto hers, smashing her head against he wall by his force. His hands roamed down her body as he started kissing her neck.

He stopped as he drew another kunai and lifted her shirt, examining the skin hidden beneath the fabric, "I remember when I gave this to you," he chuckled as the burn mark on her left side came into view, "Those were the good times," he laughed as he ran the knife over the skin.

"You bastard…" Sakura growled and she lifted her leg, kicking him back away from her.

He doubled over in pain as she tried to rip her hand away from the wall, "You little bitch…." Kitaro laughed, raising the kunai, "I see you're going to make this difficult," he smirked as he plunged the kunai into her shoulder, pushing it through the skin and into the wall behind her, "No matter, I like a challenge."

Sakura screamed as tears ran down her face, "You sick bastard! Just get away from me!" she cried as he came closer.

"Oh, you know I can't do that," he laughed as he caressed the side of her face, "I will have you…"

"Get the hell away from me! Just let me go!" Sakura screamed, trying to thrash her body against the kunai keeping her in place.

Blood ran down her arm as the kunai gauged a bigger hole in her hand. Her shoulder blazed with pain as the kunai stuck firmly into the wall behind her.

'I have to get out of here! I can't let him win, no, I can't,' Sakura thought as Kitaro laughed.

"Get away from me," Sakura growled as she kicked her legs, "Get away from me!" she screeched.

"I don't think so," Kitaro unsheathed his katana, "I'm going to break you this time," he sniggered as he plunged the katana through her stomach until it pierced the wall behind her, "If I can't have you," he smiled raising his hands, making slow hand signs, "then the Uchiha can't either," he cackled as he took a breath and spit out flames around the kitchen, igniting the wooden walls.

* * *

"We're here, we're finally here," Naruto sighed as the hound dogs walked through the gates of Konoha.

The guards had quickly rushed to the Hokage to alert her of their condition as Kakashi and the others stopped their movements.

'Sakura, I'm coming,' Sasuke thought as he pushed his hound dog to run towards the direction of his home.

"Wait! Sasuke wait!" Kakashi called as Sasuke turned around, running off down the street, "Sasuke!" Kakashi yelled as he followed his student down the street.

"Kaka- aw hell," Sai groaned as he started to follow after his teamates.

"Sakura, I coming, I coming home," Sasuke whispered as villagers rushed out of the way as the dog ran as quick as he could down the street.

Sasuke ignored the shouts from Kakashi as rounded a turn, he ignored the complaints of Sai and Naruto as he caught sight of the old training grounds and he ignored the cries of Shikamaru and Neji calling to him to stop as he spotted smoke.

* * *

Sakura heaved heavily as the katana pierced her body with her struggling to move. The flames consumed the kitchen and flowed out over the rest of the house as Kitaro stepped back and watched her.

"You'll burn," he laughed placing his hand under his chin, "Just like a martyr."

"You bastard…" Sakura growled as she cried.

"Hmm, you look even more beautiful in the flames..." Kitaro laughed.

'No, this can't be happening; I have to get out of here!' She cried as she struggled to move, 'No, I won't let him win, I won't let him win!' Sakura screamed as she ripped her hand away from its position on the wall.

The kunai fell to the ground as her hand fell. She grunted in pain as she ripped the kunai from her shoulder, glaring at Kitaro's hazy form.

"No, I'm going to kill you!" Sakura screamed as the kunai came slowly out of her shoulder.

She started to walk forward, attempting to pull the sword from its place behind her, but it wouldn't budge. She trudged forward, her body sliding over the sword until she came to the hilt. With a scream she pulled forward, wrenching the katana from its spot, spurting out blood as she gagged.

She eyed Kitaro's shocked face and before he knew it, she had lunged at him, fighting him down to the ground with the kunai raised above her head.

The flames disintegrated the wooden beams above their heads as bits fell around them. Kitaro's eyes gleamed in the light as he stopped Sakura from stabbing him.

"You crazy bitch! You're going to get us both killed!" Kitaro screamed as she sat on top of his stomach.

Sakura glared at him as he let out a long strangled cry. She turned around and saw the flames catch hold of his legs, licking the skin beneath his pants.

"How does it feel?" Sakura snarled, "The flesh ripping from your body? Does it feel good?" she screamed as she brought down the kunai as hard as she could, embedding it through his neck.

"You bastard!" Sakura screeched as she pulled the kunai out and watched in sick fascination as he gasped for breath, his eyes growing wide as she raised it again.

A large beam fell beside her, engulfed in flames, as the embers flung across her body.

She ignored the pain in her shoulder and stomach as the blood poured out of her body. The smoke filled the house as she panted and coughed, choking on its fumes and her own blood.

She stabbed him again and again, watching as the blood pooled around his head and shoulders with each cut. The blood splattered across her body, mixing with her own crimson blood.

She stabbed him repeatedly with every ounce of energy she had until she couldn't lift the kunai above her head.

She stared down at his face, eyes shimmering in the reflection of the flames as his mouth hung open, blood pooling in the back of his throat and rising. The flesh around his head had been torn to shreds as Sakura looked at the kunai, covered in his blood.

"He's dead," Sakura muttered, "I killed him, it's over. It's all over," she repeated, somewhat in a trance.

Tears streamed down her face as she staggered to her feet, the katana still sticking out of her back.

Slowly she walked out of the kitchen, never turning back to see Kitaro's body. She walked into the living room and watched as the fire grew, stoking each of its flames with new pieces of furniture and wall left untouched.

She stopped as she looked over to the mantle. Pictures of Sasuke's family and childhood had fascinated her before and she knew what they meant to him.

'I know how much he loves his family,' Sakura thought as she stumbled over to the mantle and picked up as many picture frames as she could, pressing them into her chest.

Another beam fell in front of the door as Sakura's breath picked up. She was trapped, the door was blocked and the inferno was engulfing the entire house.

She started to walk towards the window in a daze, Sasuke's smiling face kept her going. She looked out the window, seeing the rain still pelting the ground, her reflection enlightened by the blaze behind her.

"Sasuke…" Sakura coughed up blood.

A large wooden beam cracked above Sakura's head as the flames licked up each of its four panels, slowing collapsing. The bar snapped in two as the fire raged on the wood.

Sakura slowly made her way to the window as the beam fell.

She crashed down to the ground as the picture frames cracked and broke beneath her grasp, each shard of glass cutting into her chest and arms. The beam landed on her back, knocking her to the side.

She tried moving it but the flames grew bigger as they caught on the soft carpeting she was laying on.

Her side grew numb with the fire as the beam cut into it. She tried to move her legs but, nothing worked.

"Sasuke…" Sakura cried as blood seeped out from the gash in her side where the beam laid, "Sasuke…."

* * *

"Sakura! Sakura!" Sasuke screamed as he jumped off of his ninja dog and ran towards his burning house.

"Oh no…" Kakashi stared as he ran after Sasuke.

Sai, Naruto, Neji and Shikamaru raced towards the two shinobi as their eyes danced with the flames encircling Sasuke's home.

"Sasuke! Stop! Stop it!" Kakashi yelled as he tackled Sasuke to the ground, holding him back.

"She's in there! Sakura! Sakura!" Sasuke screamed, trying to break through Kakashi's vice like grip on his arms.

His world was going up in flames. Sasuke watched as his home burned, his life destroyed. He breathed hard as he continued to call out Sakura's name.

"Sasuke! Stop it!" Kakashi yelled as he held onto Sasuke.

"Neji," Shikamaru heaved.

Sai shook watching the scene, hoping Sakura really wasn't in the house, hoping that she had gotten away.

"Neji?" Naruto croaked.

"There's a body," Neji narrowed his eyes, "…It's Kitaro's. He's dead," Neji heaved.

Shikamaru and Naruto let out a relieved sigh, thinking that Ino or TenTen had come to Sakura's rescue and killed Kitaro.

"There's another body…" Neji started when his byakugan de activated. He fell to his knees, coughing up blood as tears burned in his eyes.

"Who is it?" Sai choked.

"….Sakura's," Neji responded as Sasuke stopped his movements.

The middle of the house caved in as the flames popped and cracked, burning brighter.

Sasuke heaved in unequal breaths. He tried to catch his breath as he stared into the blaze.

No, she couldn't be in there. She had to be safe.

Sasuke closed his eyes, tears running around the rims. His breath continued to heave as he opened them slowly.

It was a dream, it just had to be. Sakura couldn't be gone; she had to still be around. Sasuke opened his eyes, hoping when he awoke he'd still be a genin, saying Sakura was annoying and making her cry. He wished that he still hurt her, broke her heart, just as long as she was alive.

He would give anything to go back. To turn back time, to be the angry and revenged crazed avenger he once was, if only to see her face again.

Nothing mattered as long as she was alive, he didn't care if she hated him or wanted to kill him but, she just had to be alive. He couldn't lose her.

His eyes widened.

It wasn't a dream. Sakura had been trapped in the fire and was dead. She had killed her nightmare only by giving up her life in the end. Her pain ended with her death.

She was gone. She could finally be free and at peace.

"Sakura…." Sasuke shakily breathed as Naruto sunk to his knees beside him.

Kakashi let go of Sasuke and watched as he let out a strangled scream. His ear piercing scream shook his teamates, never had they seen the Uchiha full of such pain and anguish. They'd never seen him so broken, so defeated.

Sasuke lay on the on the ground, screaming as his home burned to the ground, as his life burned along with it. Sakura was gone, his life, his sanctuary was shattered and broken.

He shook in anger as Neji sagged on the ground, staring down at his hands. The hands that he had killed so many men to save Konoha couldn't save one of his friends. His byakugan that saw so much in his life and saved him by showing him a way to win couldn't show him the way to save his friend. He had lost someone precious to him, they all did.

He shuttered, watching Sasuke scream. He remembered how strong he used to think Sasuke was, never showing any emotions but pain and anger, just like him. He looked down at the ground, remembering how Naruto showed him that strength wasn't determined by fate or destiny; it was determined by your heart and what it held.

Neji's heart held pain and suffering, if that made him weak, then he didn't care.

Shikamaru struggled to stand as tears ran down his face. He slumped on the ground like Neji and held his head in his hands. He had been too late. He couldn't keep his promise to Ino, he couldn't save Sakura. In the end they couldn't even kill her tormentor; they could only threaten and promise that they'd be the ones to save her. In the end, she'd saved herself. He'd only wished that they could've saved her, at least, just one time.

"How could we have let this happen?" Shikamaru sniffled as Neji glared at the ground.

"Even at the end," Neji started, "she was still alone…."

Sai stared at his two saddened teamates, he didn't know what to call his feelings but, his heart hurt. He clutched his chest as tears rolled down his cheeks. He wanted them to stop; he couldn't deal with the pain. He turned to Naruto who watched Sasuke scream into the ground.

"Naruto? What are these?" Sai sniffled as he tried to wipe away the tears.

Naruto turned to his friend and watched as Sai looked up at him with red and puffy eyes, "They're…tears Sai."

Sai nodded as Naruto continued, "They happen when you're sad, they happen when you're in pain," Naruto cried as he looked back to the house.

Sad. Pain.

Sai stopped wiping away the tears as he pulled his knees up to his chest. He never showed his emotion, he usually found them hard to express but, this emotion, this one was easy. Too easy, his heart cracked as he cringed at Sasuke's painful cries.

"She must have been so scared…" Naruto cried as Sai and Kakashi nodded, "She must have been. We left her, we…we…" he struggled to breath he cried.

Sakura, Sakura chan. He wanted so much to see her face, to see her yell at him about using his sexy jutsu, to feel her brute strength punch him over the head. He wanted that pain, as long as she hit him, she was still alive and with them.

She still caused him pain. Her death would never stop killing him inside. His spirit slowly crumbled as he listened to Sasuke.

"Sasuke…." Kakashi whispered.

What was he to say? He had lost his teamates once; he knew how painful it was. He promised to protect them, he'd made that promise so many times to Sakura he couldn't even count them all. Even when Sasuke had left, he still promised to protect them, all of them.

A tear rolled down the side of his face as he remembered how she used to train so hard, she trained so hard to catch up to Sasuke and Naruto. She always saw them miles ahead of herself. So she trained more and when she thought she'd caught up with them, they moved even further in front of her.

'You always watched their backs Sakura,' Kakashi thought as he clenched his fists.

Now they watched hers. She past Naruto and Sasuke, she even past himself and now they watched as she walked away from them. He watched as his student left them. He watched her back as she continued to fade from their view, never turning back around. He watched. It was all he could do.

Sasuke screamed as he balled his fists.

She was gone. She was gone.

"She's gone…she's…she's gon-….she's gone," he repeated over and over as his tears drenched the ground.

How could he have failed? The last thing he remembered was her peaceful face as she slept. He wished he had taken her with him. He wished he was next to her in bed, he wished he could hold her one more time. He wished he could see her face, to feel her next to him as he slept.

When they were genin, she promised to do anything for him if he didn't leave. She promised to give him the world if he stayed with her.

Now, he had made those same promises. He had promised to protect and love her. He had promised.

'I left her,' Sasuke cried, 'I left her all alone to die. She died with him, that bastard, she died alone,' He repeated in his mind.

It didn't matter how strong he was or how hard he had trained, nothing was going to bring her back. No jutsu in the world could bring her back to him.

She was gone.

"She's...she...she can't... she has...she's gon...she's gone," Sasuke cried as he lay on the ground.

She was gone.

* * *

Okay, so here is the next chappie!

What did ya all think?

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!

Well i am going on vacation until thursday, i have to leave at like 2 in the morning, grrrr i don't really want to go but, i have to.

Well, i left you all with a nice cliffie, don't hate me, i promise the next chapter is almost done anyways!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

See ya soon!

Slyvia


	14. Shelter For My Soul

Hey all, Slyvia here again.

Well, vacation was terrible and school sux, i have math with absolutely NONE of my friends, grr, stupid juniors, think they're all that but they're not!

Oh, well, Read and Review the chapter, don't worry, this story is NOT over...

* * *

_She was gone._

Sasuke looked up at his burning house, watching the flames dancing across the clearing. He watched as one flame burned and popped out and stared as the flamed melted away.

He watched as glass shattered and a body tumbled to the ground.

Sasuke lifted his head, watching as the body twitched and writhed, he noticed a flash of pink as he staggered to get up.

"Sakura!" he screamed as he limped over to where her body laid, "Sakura!"

He turned her over in his arms as her face was covered in blood along with the rest of her body. Kakashi limped over to where Sasuke held her body.

"Sakura! Come on, come on," Sasuke pleaded as he touched the side of her face.

He noticed the katana sticking out of her stomach and slowly pulled it out, receiving a groan from Sakura.

He sighed, relieved that she was still alive. He called her name as she coughed up blood and shook.

"She's breathing but barely…." Kakashi drawled as Naruto crawled over to them.

"Sakura chan? Wake up, Sakura chan!" Naruto called as he took her hand in his.

"Sakura! Can you hear me? Sakura!" Sasuke called as he wrapped his arms around her body.

"…S..Sas…Sasuke?" Sakura whispered as she clutched the pictures of Sasuke's family in her arms.

"I'm here Sakura, I'm here," Sasuke whispered as tears dripped from his face onto hers.

"Sas…S…Sas…" Sakura gasped out as more blood seeped through her mouth.

"Sakura," Sasuke pulled her body as close to his as he could, "Come on, stay with me, stay with me!"

Sakura's body shook as Kakashi and Naruto cried out her name and placed their hands over the deep hole in her stomach from Kitaro's katana.

Her eyes fluttered as Sasuke's face faded in her mind. She could vaguely make out the outside voices as Sasuke touched her face, screaming out her name.

'It hurts so much,' Sakura thought as she started to choke on her own blood, gasping for air in Sasuke's lap, 'It hurts,' she repeated.

Darkness crept into her mind as Sasuke's voice faded; his screeching became a whisper as her eyelids drooped.

'Sasuke,' she thought as she tried to open her eyes.

But it was no use.

Every time she tried to re open her eyes they slammed shut. Her body felt numb with each attempt she made to move.

"Sas-"she started before her throat closed and her lungs constricted in her chest.

The pain started to fade from her body as the darkness flooded her vision.

No longer did she hear Sasuke's cries, Kakashi's pleas, and Naruto's prayers. No longer did she feel Sasuke's hand on her cheek or the clenched fists trying to stop the bleeding on her stomach and side.

No longer did she feel anything.

Sakura's body stopped shivering in Sasuke's lap as Sasuke shook her slightly.

"Wake up," he cried as he laid her down on the ground, "wake up, come back," he repeated as stroked the sides of her face.

No, he couldn't get her back just to lose her again. She couldn't have fought her way out of the burning building just to die in his arms. No, she couldn't leave him after she tried so hard to come back. No, she couldn't die.

"Please, Sakura, come back, wake up," Sasuke chanted in a daze as he lowered his forehead on top of hers.

Naruto stared as Sasuke cried into Sakura's face.

He'd never seen Sasuke cry.

"Sasuke," Naruto croaked as he moved to touch his arm.

Sasuke jerked his arm away as he shook Sakura again, still pleading for her to wake up.

The other shinobi appeared at the house soon after and all watched as a pool of blood surrounded Sakura's body.

Ino and TenTen ran to their fallen boyfriends who only brushed them aside and continued to watch Sasuke rock back and forth against Sakura's body, screaming her name.

"This isn't how it's supposed to be," he cried, "please, wake up, look at me!" he screamed as Naruto touched his arm again.

Sasuke didn't notice Naruto's hand on his arm or Tsunade and Shizune rushing to try and heal Sakura; all he did was caress her face, smearing her blood into her hair.

"Don't do this," Sasuke cried, his tears mixing with the red liquid on her face, "Don't leave me, don't, please, don't leave me."

Sakura's body did not stir.

Tsunade screamed in frustration, tears rolling down Shizune's face as she tried furiously to pump chakra into Sakura's body, sealing up the deepest wounds and trying to re start her heart.

Kakashi slumped next to Sakura, trying not to cover his ears at his student's agonizing screams. Yamato appeared next to him and dropped to his knees, shaking as he stared at Sasuke.

"I should've been there, I should've," Yamato repeated over and over again.

Kakashi shook his head as tears rolled down his face, "Would it have made a difference?" he asked.

Naruto's head whipped around, wanting to shout and scream at his sensei for saying something like that. He wanted to punch his teacher in the face, beating him senseless for saying they didn't help her or even try.

But he didn't. He couldn't say anything because it was true. They weren't there for her, to help or save her. They fell into a trap and for that act; they were punished with Sakura's death.

'Why? Why?' Naruto inwardly asked.

"Please Sakura, I love you, please, come back to me," Sasuke's eyes widened as he pressed his forehead hard into hers.

"We have to get her to the hospital," Tsunade sniffled.

Shizune nodded as Tsunade attempted to pry Sakura's limp body from Sasuke's.

"No," Sasuke growled as he turned to face the Hokage with his sharingan.

"Sasuke," Tsunade started.

"Leave her alone!" he screeched as he wrapped his arms protectively around her body.

"Stop it Sasuke," Tsunade bellowed as her eyes stung wit tears, "You need to-"

"No! Just get away from me! Just stay away!" Sasuke continued to yell.

"Sasuke," Yamato said crawling over to his teamate, "you have to let her go."

"No! She's not gone, she's going to be fine," he lulled himself into a false sense of reality as Yamato placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Sasuke."

"She's going to get better, she's going to wake up," Sasuke repeated as he stared out into Konoha.

Yamato slowly took Sakura out of Sasuke's hands as Sasuke continued to ramble, trembling as tears ran down his face.

"Tsunade sama," Yamato said as he lifted Sakura's body off the ground, "let's go."

Sasuke shook on the ground as he slowly stopped talking.

"Come on Sasuke," Naruto started as he slowly got up, pulling the Uchiha up with him, "we have to go to the hospital."

* * *

Sasuke stared up at the ceiling of the hospital room. His body was completely bandaged as his eyes clouded over with tears. The night breeze filtered through the room as the rest of the occupants looked over at Sasuke's bed.

Neji hadn't been able to say anything to Sasuke ever since they'd came back, he didn't know what he could say.

Shikamaru said the only thing he could, "I'm sorry Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't answer.

Sai could barely move or breathe as he stared at the bed next to him. His face was covered with plastic breathing apparatuses as they steadily pumped air through his lungs. His hands shook as he fought back tears.

He didn't want to see Sasuke in pain, none of them did.

Kakashi looked across the room as his student refused to eat or sleep. Kakashi wanted to scold Sasuke about being difficult but he couldn't. How could he?

"Sasuke," he muttered through his mask.

Naruto tried to lighten the mood, "Sasuke, maybe there's a chance, Tsunade's a great-"

"Naruto," Kakashi cut in as Naruto's crooked smile faded at the sad realization of his words.

Sakura wasn't going to make it.

Sasuke continued to stare up at the ceiling, refusing to allow his body to sleep or eat. Any nurse that tried was ignored, nothing more, nothing less.

Sasuke's eyes burned as he replayed the scene in his mind.

* * *

_Tsunade walked into the room where the six shinobi were recovering. _

_Shizune and the other medics had quickly healed them to the best of their abilities and put them in the same room together, secluding them from the rest of the world._

"_Tsunade?" Shikamaru said as the Hokage closed the door behind her._

_Sasuke didn't look over to the Hokage as the rest did. Sai's mechanically breathing echoed through the room as Neji craned his neck._

"_Sasuke?" Tsunade whispered as she looked over to the raven haired boy._

_He didn't spare her a glance, he knew what she was going to say, he knew what was going to happen. And quite frankly, he didn't want reality to hit yet. _

_He was numb in his make believe world. Nothing existed, nothing mattered, nothing was there and that's the way he liked it._

"_Sakura…is she?" Naruto croaked as he began shaking._

"_I don't know…." Tsunade whispered, never taking her eyes off Sasuke._

"_What do you mean you don't know?" Neji wondered, slightly angered by the Hokage's dazed reply._

"_It's touch and go," she sniffled, "I don't know what's…." she trailed. _

_Sasuke finally broke from his trance and looked over at the Hokage, staring into her puffy hazel eyes._

"

* * *

Sasuke didn't say anything as he looked back up at the ceiling, never breaking his gaze.

He didn't eat, he didn't sleep or move. He just wanted to die.

Death: only in death could he be with her. He could see her again.

He was punishing himself for letting her die. It was his fault, he convinced himself, it was his fault that she was dead. He let her die and he didn't deserve to live anymore.

'Why? Why didn't I let her come with me?' Sasuke thought as he angrily glared at the ceiling, 'Why didn't I listen to her?'

He clenched his fists, remembering Naruto asking if they could see Sakura, just one more time before she went. Tsunade shook her head.

Sasuke wanted to see her again, to feel her at his side, to feel her smile touch his heart. He wanted her to live again.

'I want to see her, I have to,' Sasuke thought as he slowly moved his legs.

He softly grunted in pain as he struggled to sit up. The others were sleeping as he shuffled his footsteps across the room, grabbing various tables to get to the door.

'Sakura,' he thought as he limped down the hall into her room.

* * *

He slowly opened the door to find her lying in the bed, covered with a white blanket. Tubes protruded from her body as a monitor beeped next to her bed. The green line blipped with her slow heartbeat.

Sasuke cringed. Her heart beat was faint.

"Sakura," he whispered as he walked over to the side of her bed.

Softly he touched the side of her face, carefully avoiding the bandage over her lower cheek.

"Come back," he whispered as he leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers, "Come back to me."

The heart monitor steadily beeped as Sakura stayed silent.

"Please wake up," he whispered, "Just open your eyes, please, don't leave me."

She didn't stir.

Tears burned the rims of his eyes as he touched her face again, "Please Sakura, please….I love you."

Still, she didn't' move.

Slowly Sasuke sat down on her side of the bed, he couldn't leave her, no he wouldn't, not this time.

He swung his legs up on her bed and laid on his side, moving in between her arm and body, he placed his head on her upper shoulder, pushing his nose into her neck. He gave her a soft kiss as he wrapped his arm around her torso.

He couldn't leave her: he couldn't abandon her. If she was going to die than he would stay with her for as long as he could.

Tears leaked from his eyes as he begged her to come back. He wasn't ready to let her go, not yet, not when they had just found each other again.

He was pleading with her to escape death. To fight and come back to him, he was being selfish. He knew that.

But he didn't care.

He would've given anything to see her bright green eyes again. He would do anything to see her smile, if she wanted the moon at her feet he would find a way to tie a rope around it and pull to her. If she wanted to go back in time to save the third Hokage from being killed, he would find a way to run the world backward to save him. If she wanted him to move the mountain beside of Konoha so it blocked the sun, he would do it.

If she wanted him to love her, he would never think twice and do it.

And if she wanted to leave him…..

He wouldn't let her. He would do anything for her as long as she stayed with him, as long as she smiled up at him with her big bright eyes and warm smile.

"I'm not leaving you Sakura," Sasuke whispered, "I never will."

"I promise," he continued as he raised his head and kissed her lips.

He lay back down and stared past her body to the moon shimmering outside.

He started to fall asleep when her room door cracked, the hall way light creating a sliver on the far wall. He didn't look up when he heard shuffling and raspy breathing.

Sai walked to the other side of Sakura's bed, heaving with each step as he stumbled to get onto the bed. If things had been different, Sasuke would've glared at the artist and pushed him off, saying he was a pervert but, Sasuke lifted his arm from Sakura's waist, raising it to cover her chest so Sai could lie on her side.

Sai gave his real smile as he grabbed Sakura's hand and brought it to his lips, softly running them across the knuckles as he lay his head down on her small hand, clenched with his. He curled his legs against her body so he had enough room to sleep on her bed.

Sasuke smiled back at the artist sadly. They knew it wouldn't be long.

Sai put his arm around Sakura's lower body as he snuggled into her warmth as Sasuke did the same, each holding onto her as if she was their life.

She was.

Sai had his own bond with her. She was his friend, the only one who really understood and comforted him when he couldn't express an emotion. If he ever felt lost, she would understand from his silence and take his hand, leading him back into the world he recognized. He only wished he could do the same for her.

Sasuke sighed as the door creaked open again, this time rushed shuffling scampered across the room and stopped at the end of the bed.

"Sakura chan," Naruto whispered as he crawled over Sasuke.

If it had been different, Sasuke would call Naruto a dobe and Sai would call him dickless. But not now. They put aside their petty rivalries and contests to work for something better.

Naruto settled himself on his stomach between Sakura's legs, an intimate position that Sasuke would punch him for but, considering the amount of room, Sasuke shifted his legs so Naruto could climb over him while Sai lifted his arm higher on Sakura's body to allow Naruto to lay his head on her stomach, silently drenching her in his tears.

Naruto couldn't leave her, none of them could. Not when she never left them. He smiled when he remembered the chuunin exams and how Sakura took care of him and Sasuke after their fight with Orochimaru. She fought the three sound ninja to protect them.

"You always took care of us Sakura chan," Naruto sniffled into her stomach as Sasuke and Sai nodded, their own tears stinging, "I'm sorry…..we never said thank you."

Sai shook at her side as he tried to suppress his tears as Sasuke gave a small smile down to his teamate.

He was right: not once did they ever thank her for what she did.

Naruto's knees bent as they caved to the side and sat on Sai's legs. The artist didn't complain and simply shifted his one leg behind his other to get more comfortable.

Again the door creaked open as one set of shuffling followed by quiet footsteps came into the room.

"Guys…." Yamato whispered as he helped Kakashi to Sasuke's side of Sakura's bed.

None of them moved as Kakashi sat slowly down, lightly taking Sakura's hand in his. He held her hand as he sat against her bed, laying his head down behind Sasuke's back on the bit of bed that wasn't occupied.

He ran his fingers over her cool skin, realizing that this was the last time he would see her.

Yamato pulled a chair across the room at the head of Sakura's bed and laid down, putting his head next to hers as he touched her hair, playing with a few strands between his fingers.

"She got her wish," Kakashi whispered as he rubbed the top of her hand.

"What?" Naruto asked, his voice muffled by Sakura's stomach.

"All she ever wanted," Yamato said shakily, "was to be a team again."

Kakashi nodded, "We're all together again, just like she wanted."

Sasuke further buried his face into neck, desperate for her to feel his love and wake up.

She may have been alone in escaping Kitaro; she might've been alone in facing her fear and demon in killing Kitaro; she may have been alone in getting out of Sasuke's burning home but, she wouldn't be alone anymore.

"We'll be with you to the end, Sakura chan," Naruto sniffled again.

"We're a team," Sai heaved, "We'll always be."

Sasuke shook with tears. What could he say?

She saved him from darkness. When he faced the pitch blackness of his heart, he felt her warmth and light over his shoulder. She gave him the strength to turn around and take her hand, pulling him back into the light as she smiled and whispered to him.

'She told me never to let go,' Sasuke thought as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Don't let go yet Sakura," Sasuke whispered, "Don't leave us."

The five shinobi refused to go to sleep. Even though they couldn't help Sakura kill her nightmare, they were there to help her find her peace. They would help her into heaven and stay behind as she walked away from them.

They would hold her hands and feel her against their skin until she had to leave them. Forever they would stay back from the gates of heaven while she smiled and walked away from them. And forever they would watch her back as part of their team faded from their view.

Forever would be a long time before they would see her again.

Sasuke and the others vaguely noticed Neji and Shikamaru crawl into Sakura's room with the help of Ino and TenTen as they lay down on their girlfriend's laps, listening to the beeping of Sakura's heart monitor. They too would stay until the end.

Choji came in with Asuma as they sat next to Ino, staring up at Sakura's bed, covered by her team.

Choji didn't eat and pulled his knees to his chest as he rested his head on top of them.

Hinata walked into the room and smiled sadly at her boyfriend, staring in a daze at Sakura's stomach. She would be there when he needed her.

Akamaru whimpered as he and Kiba followed Hinata and Shino behind him. Kiba gave a small smirk and wiped a tear from his eye as he sat against the wall next to Ino's team. He lay against Akamaru as Hinata leaned against the dog as well. Shino silently hoped Sakura would wake up as he took his place beside Hinata.

Without a word about youthfulness, Lee and Gai walked in, followed by Kurenai who sat next to Kiba, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Lee and Gai sat next to Neji and looked sympathetically down at him. Each shinobi prayed silently that by some miracle Sakura would wake up. They didn't sleep, not wanting to miss a moment they had left with their friend.

The hours dragged on as no one spoke, each one of them not finding the capability to speak. Even if they could, they would know what to say.

* * *

"Do you think we should leave them?" Shizune whispered as she stood next to Tsunade and Jiraiya outside of Sakura's room.

They peaked in and watched the sad and angry faces of Sakura's teamates all around her as each of the rookie nine and Gai's squad filled the floor of her room.

"Yes," Tsunade sighed.

"But she-" Shizune started before Jiraiya cut her off.

"Give them this," he whispered, looking down at the floor, "let them be a team one last time."

Tsunade cried into her hand as Shizune nodded.

Jiraiya pulled Tsunade into his shoulder as he let his old friend cry into his shirt. Shizune slumped on the ground as Ton Ton crawled into her lap.

* * *

Sasuke took a shaky breath as Sakura's heart monitor beeped on through the night. Every time he would fall into a daze his breath stopped, he knew that each minute that heart monitor beeped she was closer to leaving him.

"Sakura," he whispered, "I love you."

The heart monitor beeped again as Sasuke gave her another kiss on her lips, savouring the feel of them. It would be the last time he would get to feel them on his own. It would be the last time he would lie against her side and it would be the last time she would be with him.

The heart monitor beeped until one fluid green line flowed across the screen with a searing siren.

* * *

That was a little sad.

I kind of put all the things i want to happen in Manga and Anime into this story, wanting Naruto and Sasuke to finally realized how much they need and love Sakura. And it's true, never once in the Anime or Manga has Naruto or Sasuke thanked Sakura for saving them. Orochimaru or Gaara? NOPE, and neither have ever really said they appreciate her when she would visit them in the hospital so this is bittersweet.

Just KEEP READING AND REVEIWING!

I know you're all pissed but, just trust me on this one, things will pan out. Don't worry.

Slyvia :P


	15. All I Need

Okay, so I'm here! Slyvia again!

So i know all of you are about to KILL me right now but, just read this chapter right now!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

* * *

_The heart monitor beeped until one fluid green line flowed across the screen with a searing siren._

Sasuke's eyes widened as he propped himself up and looked down at her face. Sai and Naruto's eyes bulged as they looked to Sasuke for confirmation. Sasuke's whole body shook as he looked up at the screen.

It could be a technical defect right? Some sort of mechanical failure or something, she really couldn't be dead. Not yet, no, he still had so much to give her. This timing wasn't right, they were supposed to have more time, more time to say goodbye.

Kakashi stirred beneath them as Yamato shook in his chair.

That was it. They had their time and now, she was gone. All they wanted to say was lost. All the time they thought they had was gone. Sad realization hit the remaining members of team 7: time was never on their side. Sakura was gone and neither of them said what they wanted to. All they did say, pleaded, was for her to come back. None of them said the one thing they should've.

None of them said goodbye.

Sasuke started to cry in realization.

She was gone. She was gone and there was nothing they could do to bring her back. She left them all behind, she walked through Heaven's gate without them. Without him. She left him. Sasuke was alone again, the one thing he feared was the one thing he would have to live with.

Sasuke laid his forehead against Sakura's as his tears fell from his eyes onto hers.

* * *

The rest of the shinobi flinched at the monitor. Lee looked down at the ground, tears flowing from his eyes as Neji held TenTen's hand. TenTen shook with her tears as she grasped Neji's hand. Neji closed his eyes, hoping that if he opened them, she would sit up and smile. He hoped that if he prayed hard enough, she would wake up and be with her teamates again, walking with Naruto for ramen, looking over Sai's shoulder to see his drawings, laughing when Yamato got stuck with Naruto's bill, yelling at Kakashi for being late, and loving Sasuke.

Neji opened his but, he didn't see anything but the somber walls of the hospital room.

Ino bawled and hunched over Shikamaru who held her as she cried into her hands. Choji unconsciously rubbed her back as Asuma held a crying Kurenai. Tears stung Shikamaru's eyes. He was the famous lazy genius of Konoha, the only one of the rookie nine to be made a chuunin after the first chuunin exams. He was the one that could figure a strategy during any situation but, none of that mattered. He couldn't find the strategy to bring Sakura back, he could think and wonder all he wanted but, the simple fact was, there was nothing. She would never be some sort of math equation. He would've given up cloud watching and sleeping just to have her come back.

There was no answer, all there was, was nothingness.

Akamaru whimpered softly as Kiba lightly touched the dog's head. Shino held Hinata as she sobbed, a stray tear falling from his own eye. Hinata knew that Naruto would need her after but, now, it wasn't the time. She couldn't help but cry at losing her friend, she hadn't even gotten to see Sakura when she came back. She never got to say hello or goodbye. All she had, were the memories from years ago, and those would have to be enough.

* * *

"Sakura chan," Naruto sniffled as Sai clenched her hand and lay back down on her side. There was nothing they could do. Sai even wondered if they could've ever done anything. Was she destined to die like this? Was this what was supposed to happen?

'Team 7,' Sai thought. Never again would they be team.

Kakashi gave her hand a small masked kiss as he pressed his forehead to it. He did it again. He let one of his students go again but this time, she wasn't coming back. There would be no rescue mission, no silent hoping, and no optimistic words to bring her back. Sakura was gone, and he couldn't save her this time.

Yamato clenched his eyes shut into Sakura's pillow as he caught a strand of her hair between his fingers. He remembered the day he saved Sakura from attacking Sasuke. This time, he couldn't stop her from being hurt. This time, she was destined to fight until the end. This time, all he could do, was watch.

Sasuke cried into her neck as he gripped her harder around her shoulders.

'Sakura,' he thought, 'I'm sorry.'

He had failed, they all had. Sasuke thought, that just maybe, his love would pull her through. He thought that if you wanted something bad enough, you'd get it. But that wasn't the case, at least, not this time. This time he failed. He didn't get what he wanted: he didn't get her back. His tears fell onto her face as his nose lightly touched hers. His hands clenched as he fought back a shrill scream. How could this happen? How? He didn't understand. It wasn't fair, not in his eyes. He was supposed to be with her in the end, they would live and love eachother until the end.

It wasn't suppposed to end like this.

* * *

Sasuke's eyes widened as a soft groan made its way to his ears. He looked up to see Sakura's face slightly moving as her eyes slowly fluttered.

Sai quickly looked up as her small hand softly held onto his, her cool flesh moving against his.

"Sakura chan," Naruto called as her legs started to tense beneath him.

Kakashi quickly sat up as Sakura's hand grasped his.

"Sakura," Sasuke called, "Come on, wake up, open your eyes," he pleaded as he sat up and hovered over her, "please, just wake up."

Her hands started to tighten their holds on Sai and Kakashi as Sai rasped, "Sakura, Sakura…"

All of the other shinobi stood up as Naruto cried Sakura's name, "Sakura chan! Sakura chan wake up! Come on!"

"Sakura," Sai heaved, "Sakura can you hear us?"

Again her body struggled to move as Kakashi rubbed her hand, trying to warm her cool skin, "Sakura," he yelled, "Sakura!"

Slowly, bright green eyes flickered open.

Sasuke let out a shaky breath as she stared into his black shocked eyes.

"Sakura," Sasuke repeated as her hands continued to tighten their hold on her sensei and teamates hands, "Sakura, say something."

Her eyes fluttered slowly as her lips started to move, "….you're…heavy," she whispered.

Sasuke stared for a brief moment and then started to laugh as tears cascaded down his face. She gave small curled smile as he leaned down and kissed her.

"Sakura," Sasuke whispered as he caressed the side of her face.

* * *

Her eyes closed at his touch as the room buzzed with excited and shocked shinobi. Sakura gave a tired smile as the room door flew open, revealing a huffing Tsunade, crying Shizune, and smiling Jiraiya.

"Move!" the boisterous Hokage yelled as she stomped across the room, pushing Sasuke down on Sakura's side as she stared deeply into her young apprentice's eyes.

Sakura blinked up at the Hokage as she remained silent. The room quieted down as Sasuke breathed on Sakura's neck, "You had us worried Sakura," Tsunade half heartedly glared at her student.

Sakura gave a small sigh as Tsunade continued, "Don't ever do it again," she cried as she placed her hand on Sakura's cheek, "you stupid girl…." She trailed as tears ran down her face.

Sakura gave a soft smile again as the Hokage brushed her tears away, smiling down and beaming as she looked at the shocked team 7. She laughed as Naruto smiled wildly and buried his face into Sakura's stomach, shaking his head left and right into her skin and crying out how much he missed her. Sai laid his head down on Sakura's hand, bringing it to his lips every few seconds and smiling into her knuckles. Yamato gently smoothed Sakura's hair as Kakashi gripped her hand with both of his.

Tsunade smiled as she was pushed back by Sasuke.

Sakura smiled as Sasuke looked down at her, lowering his forehead and brushing his nose against hers. He couldn't believe she was still alive, how she made it through the darkness to come back to him. He didn't know by what medical miracle or slight of hand she came back but, it didn't matter, all that did was lying beneath him.

He closed his eyes.

'She came back,' he thought, 'she came back.'

Wherever she had been, she loved him enough to come back and be with him. It seemed that what had lied beyond Heaven's gate was not enough to keep her from being with him.

She must have walked into the gates and stopped. She must have heard her teamates love for her and turned around. She had to have looked back and saw them watching behind the gate. She turned back and walked back to them, slowly and silently with a smile and took their hands in hers. She came back to them, to him.

'She's staying this time,' Sasuke thought as he re opened his eyes.

"Sasuke," she whispered as he gave a small smile.

"I'm here," he whispered back, "I always will be."

* * *

"So," Naruto smiled, "You think she's ready to go home?" he asked as he walked down the hall to Sakura's hospital room.

"I hope so," Yamato answered.

"It's been a while," Sai smiled, "she'll be happy to see what we've done….." he trailed thinking about Sakura's recovery in the hospital.

It had been a long month. One of both Sakura's struggles to move and start living again and team 7's trying to keep Naruto from spearing her every time he saw her. Sai groaned remembering how hard it was keeping up with Konoha's number one hyperactive knuckle head ninja. But today, today Sakura was going home.

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed as he trailed after Naruto reading his perverted book.

"I can't wait till she sees it!" Naruto jumped in glee, "She'll be so surprised!"

"Well she won't if you give it away," Yamato growled as they neared Sakura's door.

"Yeah Dickless," Sai glared, "Shut up about it; Sasuke wants it to be a surprise."

"I know, I know," Naruto sighed as he reached for the handle of the door.

Without thinking, Naruto twisted the handle of the door and flung it open, screaming, "Sakura chan, you're going home today!"

Sakura wrapped her arms quickly around herself as Sasuke dove to help cover her body. Tsunade dropped the white gauze bandages as the number one hyperactive ninja poked his head through the door.

Sai sighed behind Naruto as Yamato and Kakashi's eyes widened.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Tsunade thundered as she ran towards the door.

"We just wanted….to…" Naruto trailed as he stared into the room.

Sakura was shivering in Sasuke's arms as her bare back faced him. Kakashi and Yamato looked down at the ground as Sai tried to pull Naruto out the room but, he didn't budge.

Naruto stared at what Sakura had tried to hide from them. Her scars. The day at the dressing room came into his mind as he remembered Ino and TenTen's scared and pained faces at explaining how she tried to hide the scars from them. Faded tan jagged lines ran down her back as the newer ones glowed red. Stitches stretched across the middle of her back from the katana wound as another was seen at her right shoulder. Her side was completely bandaged with old blood seeping through and driping past the stitches.

"Sakura chan," Naruto whispered as she flinched at the sound of her own name.

"Get out!" Tsunade yelled as she pushed Naruto out of the room, along with the rest of her team and slammed the door in their faces.

* * *

Naruto stared at the closed door in his face as he heard Tsunade's powerful footsteps echo in the room.

"Naruto," Sai whispered as he touched his teamate's shoulder.

"Were those…," Naruto trailed as he turned slowly around.

"…yeah," Yamato answered.

Those were the scars Sakura had tried to hide from them all and that was the pain she bore alone. Naruto looked up to Kakashi's saddened face, "How-"

"Don't," Sai cut in, "Don't make her re live those nightmares."

Kakashi nodded, "Let's wait outside," he drawled as he urged Naruto to follow.

Naruto thought about Sai's words as he walked behind his teamates.

"Will she ever forget?" he asked.

"No," Kakashi answered, "she won't."

"Then we can-"

"What can we do?" Yamato asked.

"But-"

"We can't erase what happened and neither can she," Yamato finished as they entered the waiting room, "She'll have to live with those for the rest of her life."

"Grandma Tsunade can-"

"You can take away the scars," Kakashi continued, "the physical pain, but, you can't take away the memories."

"Sakura…." Naruto whispered as Sai put a hand on his shoulder.

"What do we do?" he asked.

"The only thing we can do," Yamato stated.

"What's that?" Sai asked.

"Be a team," Kakashi finished as he sat down on a chair. He was right, the only thing they could give to Sakura was what she wanted. All she ever wanted was to be a team again.

* * *

"All finished," Tsunade sadly smiled, "I'm sorry Sakura…for Naruto."

"I know," Sakura whispered as Sasuke continued to hold her.

"You can go home now," the Hokage smiled.

Sakura nodded as Sasuke reached for her shirt. He slowly wrapped it around her body as Sakura stared out the window.

"I'll leave you two then," Tsunade said as she quietly walked out of the room.

Sakura looked over to the setting sun. The orange and red sky reminded her of the fire from Sasuke's home and of Kitaro. She brought up a hand to her chest, remembering all of the pain he inflicted on her, up until the end.

"He'll never go away Sasuke," Sakura stated as Sasuke kneeled in front of her. He placed his hands on her knees, softly massaging them, "Everything he did…it's all still there."

"You have to let go Sakura," Sasuke replied as he softly placed a kiss on her knee.

"What?"

"You have to move on," he stated as he looked into her eyes, "you have to start over: we'll have to start a new life...together."

"Where?" she sniffled, "Your home, he burned it. Everything's gone."

Sasuke smiled as he lovingly touched the side of Sakura's face, "No, you're here. That's all I need."

Sakura smiled as leaned into his hand. She brought one of her hands up and took his in hers, bringing it up to her face and laying a small kiss on his knuckle.

"I have something for you," Sakura smiled, "It's in the nightstand drawer," she motioned over to the corner of the room.

Sasuke turned his head and stood up. He walked over to the nightstand next to the bed and carefully opened the top drawer. His eyes widened.

"Sakura," he whispered as tears stung the rims of his eyes, "You…you…"

"I saved them for you," she finished for him.

Sasuke gingerly pulled out the photos from the drawer, one by one, examining each slightly burnt edge and wrinkle. He smiled sadly down at the pictures of him as a child, smiling with his mother and laughing as he stood next to Itachi. The one of him with his father made him give a small laugh; he sat next to his father on the couch, smiling shyly as his father simply stared at the camera.

"I can't believe….you didn't…" he stuttered. He couldn't find the words to describe how happy he was. Words didn't seem to fit the time.

His gaze drifted down to the last picture he had. The only family picture he remembered. He stood in between his mother and Itachi as his father stood next to his mother. His mother's smile warmed his heart as Itachi gave a small smile to the camera. Sasuke swore he saw his father smile.

The latter surprised him. Never once did he look at that picture and see his father's smile. He was consumed with too much hatred to care about such a detail but now, he saw the content and proud Uchiha smirk.

He turned back to Sakura and watched as she smiled at him. Her smile reminded him of his mother's, always warm and welcoming.

"I couldn't get the rest but-"

"Why?" he asked suddenly, "Are these why you…" he trailed.

These were the pictures she had saved for him from his burning home. He clenched the pictures in his hands thinking that they were the reason she got trapped.

"Sasuke-"

"Tell me," he growled, "Were you were trapped trying to save these?!" he yelled, "Why!"

"I…I knew how much they meant to you," she looked down at her hands in her lap.

Sasuke shook in his stance, never turning around to face her. How could he? He was the one responsible for why she almost died. It was his family that almost killed her. His dead family.

"They were just pictures….why would-"

"Stop it," she yelled, "they're they only thing you had left! Why are you-"

"Because!" he screamed cutting her off, "you could've died because of these! Why didn't you just…..get….out," he trailed.

Why was he yelling at her? He knew she would never abandon anything she thought was important. Person or not, she always gave everything to protect others. His family, dead or not, were no different. Sasuke laughed dryly, 'How could I think she'd leave them.'

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I didn't…."

"I know," she whispered back, "I know."

Sakura let out a relieved sigh as Sasuke turned around to look at her. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. For her or his family, she didn't know. Sasuke dragged the back of his hand across his eyes as he laughed again, more at himself than her.

'You'll never be selfish will you Sakura,' Sasuke thought as he walked over to her, 'You could never just save yourself.'

Sasuke smiled, "thank you….thank you."

She smiled as Sasuke walked over to her. He laid a small gentle kiss on her lips as she caressed his face, wiping away the lone tear that fell. He smiled into the kiss as he broke it, staring into her soft jade eyes. He looked down at the pictures in his hand and back at her face. She was his family now.

Sasuke grabbed Sakura's bag in his one hand as he slowly turned her wheel chair around and headed out the door.

"Where are we going?" she asked as Sasuke smiled.

"You'll see."

* * *

See? I told you it would all pan out!

Actually, i have been laughing alot this week at my reviews! You all make my day! I love you guys and how much you love this story, it's really nice! Thank you thank you! Cyber cookies to all!

Did you really think I would KILL SAKURA!

Well, this story will be over soon, but, what do you think Sasuke wants to show Sakura?

And no, it's not perverted! Get your minds out of the gutter!

Do you want to know????????

Slyvia out until next time:)


	16. A Welcomed Return

Okay, I'm BACK!

Wow, i love all my reviewers, you guys make my day. I'm sad, this story is almost over! But, don't worry, i have another few chapters up my sleeve so, just chill!

Sorry for the LONG update but School is INSANE!

Well, here is the next chapter! ENJOY AND REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

* * *

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked again.

"Somewhere," Sasuke smirked as he pushed her wheel chair down the hospital halls. Various nurses greeted and smiled lovingly at the couple as Sakura gave them weak smiles in return while Sasuke ignored them.

"Okay Sasuke," Sakura sighed, realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere by trying to argue with him.

Sasuke smiled in victory as he neared the waiting room. Even though she tried to be strong, she was in pain and no amount of physical therapy could erase that. He looked sadly down at Sakura as he heard Naruto screaming about killing Sai.

'What did Sai do now?' Sasuke wondered as Naruto's screams became more incessant.

"Would you two knock it off?" Yamato yelled as he held onto Naruto's right arm while Kakashi held his left shoulder.

"That bastard!" Naruto screeched as Sai stood back and smiled at Naruto.

"What'd they do now?" Sasuke asked as he stopped wheeling Sakura.

Sakura stared in tired amusement as her teamates turned around.

"Sakura chan!" Naruto screeched as he rushed toward her. Kakashi and Yamato fell to his side from the change in direction as Naruto sped past them and tackled Sakura.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled as was pushed back.

Sakura let out a surprised yelp as the wheelchair flung back from Naruto's momentum, taking Sasuke with it and hit a nearby wall. Naruto smiled as he hugged Sakura's sitting midsection as Sasuke grunted from being squashed between the chair and the wall.

"Naruto!" Sasuke screeched as he tried to pry himself away from the wall.

"Sakura chan! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I didn't mean to barge in! Sakura chan! I just missed you!" Naruto ranted into Sakura's chest.

"Ah…it's okay," Sakura smiled weakly as she gently brought down her hands on Naruto's back.

"Naruto," Kakashi groaned, "move."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Sasuke," Sai pointed, "idiot," he murmured.

"Oh," Naruto looked beyond Sakura's face to see a fuming Sasuke, "eh…eh, sorry Sasuke."

"Dobe," Sasuke growled as Naruto raised himself from Sakura's chair and let Sasuke get away from the wall.

"Are you ready Sakura?" Yamato smiled.

"…yeah," Sakura whispered as she fidgeted in her chair, trying to find a comfortable position.

"Let's go Sasuke," Kakashi motioned.

Sasuke nodded as he pushed Sakura's wheelchair across the waiting room floor. Sakura narrowed her eyes as the bright sunlight shone through the door window blinding her vision.

Sai and Naruto both walked on either side of her as Yamato and Kakashi walked in front of her. Sakura smiled as she saw the familiar streets of Konoha. The villagers walked by the shops and hospital, greeting team 7 and smiling towards Sakura and laughing about how much they missed her.

Sakura would smile back and nod, it was good to be back.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked quietly as Naruto smiled down at her.

"Don't worry Sakura chan," he laughed as he took her hand in his.

Sakura laughed as her other hand was picked up.

"We're glad you're back Sakura," Sai smiled as he held onto her hand as they walked down the street.

Sakura smiled up at the artist nin as the newly reunited team 7 walked down the street.

* * *

"We're here," Sai smiled as Sasuke rolled Sakura along the dirt path, hidden by various deep green trees. The birds sung as the trees provided shade and a flickering of sun for the day time walkers.

"Wait!" Naruto called; "Sakura chan, you have to close your eyes!" he jumped happily while holding onto her hand.

"No she doesn't," Sai argued as Sasuke slumped over the back of Sakura's chair, shaking his head at his teamates.

'Not again,' he mentally groaned as Sakura's arms flailed up and down with Sai and Naruto's incessant shouting.

"It's a big surprise so she has to close them!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto!" Yamato and Kakashi yelled as Sasuke held his head in his hand.

"You idiot," Sasuke muttered.

"What the hell Dickless?!" Sai growled, "You just gave it away!"

"I did not!" Naruto defended, "I just told her it was a big surprise!"

"Naruto!" Yamato screeched as Naruto continued.

"It's not like I told her we built her a new house!"

"Naruto!" the four male members of team 7 shouted.

"I-oh, oops," Naruto's eyes widened as he looked down at Sakura's shocked eyes and quickly covered his mouth as Sai and Sasuke glared daggers at him.

"You idiot," Kakashi groaned, hitting Naruto in the back of the head.

Yamato sighed, "We never should have brought him."

Among her teamates yelling at Naruto, Sakura turned to look at Sasuke. Did they really build a new house for her and Sasuke? Was it true?

Sakura quietly lifted herself out of her chair and stumbled past Sai and Sasuke who were lunging at Naruto. Naruto screamed and ran backwards into Yamato and Kakashi's chests, who only grabbed his shoulders, preventing him from moving.

She held onto her chair handle bars as she shuffled over to a high wall, surrounding a large stretch of land. She ran her fingers over the cool stone of the wall and crept closer to the opening.

'Did they really rebuild it?' she wondered as she forced her legs to move around the edge of the wall and into the front yard of the home.

Sakura stopped and leaned against the wall.

"Surprise!" the shinobi yelled as Sakura struggled to stand against the wall.

"What…what are you…." She struggled as each of the originally rookie nine and Gai's team stood on the porch and yard of Sasuke's rebuilt home.

"Sakura!" Ino shouted as she ran towards her friend, "Where's Sasuke and-"

"Here she is!" Naruto called as he ran to the entrance way of the estate and quickly turned around, yelling back behind the wall.

"Sakura!" Sai yelled as he and Sasuke ran into the entrance way, stopping as Ino held onto Sakura's waist, supporting her weight.

"We found her Kakashi sensei and Yamato taichou!" Naruto called again as the two senseis sauntered around the corner of the stone wall.

"I'll take her Ino," Sasuke whispered as he picked Sakura up and carried her over to her wheelchair.

"Sakura chan we were so worried!" Naruto cried as he kneeled in front of her, "We didn't know where you went! We thought that you could have been kidnapped or attacked or-"

Kakashi hit Naruto upside the head and grumbled, "Will you put a lid on it?"

"Well," Sai sighed, "Surprise Sakura."

Sakura stared at the approaching shinobi all with pleasant smiles adorning their faces. She looked behind them to see the brand new home nestled in the back of the piece of land and surrounded by a budding garden and small pond.

'It's beautiful,' Sakura thought as Neji and Shikamaru walked over to Naruto's place on the ground where he nursed his head.

"Let me guess," Neji smirked, "Naruto told her."

"Yeah," Sai groaned, shaking his head at his idiot of a teamate.

"Hn," Neji's smirk widened as he looked over at Shikamaru and outstretched his hand.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled as he pulled out his wallet and counted out the money he owed Neji.

"Oh well," Sai admitted, "Even if he did ruin it," the artist started as a small smile crossed his face, "look how happy she is."

Neji and Shikamaru turned to look at Sakura's bright smile as trails of tears ran down her face. She smiled up at her two senseis and Sasuke as they nodded and pointed to various places, re telling funny stories about the labor on the house. Naruto stopped whining as he looked over to his teamates.

"She really is happy," he smiled.

"I missed it," Sai stated.

"What?" Shikamaru asked.

"Her smile," Sai answered, "I haven't seen it in a long time."

Neji and Shikamaru nodded their heads as Ino, TenTen and Hinata dragged Sakura away from the crowd and over to the small garden, "yeah," Naruto nodded.

* * *

"You did all this?" Sakura asked Sasuke, standing on the porch and looking out over their home.

"Yeah," he nodded, "for you."

"It's so beautiful," she smiled brightly looking over to Sasuke's amused face.

"So," he smirked, "you like it."

"Yes," she laughed, "thank you."

Sasuke stared at Sakura as she turned back to look over the railing. The sunset played off of her hair, enveloping her in a halo of gold.

'She's beautiful,' Sasuke thought as her eyes shut.

Sasuke frowned as her back hunched over the railing and tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. Her arms circled around her waist as she bit down hard on her lip. Her knees slowly buckled as her body crumbled to the ground.

"Sakura," Sasuke gasped as he caught her form before she fell, "Sakura," he whispered against her hair as she whimpered in his arms.

'She's still is so much pain,' Sasuke thought as he smoothed his hands over her hair, pressing her body as close to his as he could.

"Sas…Sasuke," she cried into his chest, tears staining his shirt, "Sasuke."

"I'm here, I'm here Sakura," Sasuke whispered as her body shook.

Sasuke sighed against her head as he laid kisses against her forehead and cheeks, realizing that this would be the first of many painful days for them. It would take Sakura a long time to heal and for them to move on but, he would be there to help her.

"It'll be alright Sakura," Sasuke whispered as he gathered her in his arms, walking into the house.

He slowly inched up the stairs and into 'their' bedroom. Sakura sniffled against his chest as he sat down on the edge of the bed, carefully holding her against his body.

"Sakura," he murmured against the side of her face.

He held her tightly as she struggled against his grip, crying and screaming in agony, her wounds seeping with blood as her skin ran cold.

He let stray tears run down his face as he forced her to stay still in his grasp, making sure she didn't further pain herself anymore. Her body went rigid in his arms as her nails loosened themselves from his arms, leaving crescent shapes along his skin.

"Sasuke," she sniffled hard into his chest.

"It'll be alright Sakura," Sasuke replied.

He knew she was scared, it wasn't just being alone or weak but, she was scared of him. She was scared that he was going to leave her again.

'I'll never leave Sakura,' Sasuke silently promised, running his hands slowly over her back, listening to her breathing start to steady itself, 'I'll always protect you. I promise.'

He leaned back on the bed with Sakura softly sleeping on his chest. Pulling the comforter over them, he sighed. It was going to be a long recovery for her, both physically and mentally.

'I wish I could make you forget Sakura,' Sasuke thought as he tightened his grip around her frail body.

He couldn't erase her memories of what happened any more than she could. She was doomed to remember Kitaro and the flames for the rest of her life. The sharingan was one of the most powerful blood line traits in the world but, it could trap people in their own nightmares until the person was unconscious or dead but, all of that power was useless.

Everything Sasuke had thought he would gain from Orochimaru was useless in what he really wanted. In truth, it wasn't his brother's death that his soul craved, it was love. All he ever wanted was to be loved.

He smiled sadly down at Sakura's painful face curling around his chest, through all pain and suffering she had been through, she still loved him.

"I love you Sakura," he whispered as he kissed the top of her head.

Even though it was going to be a long recovery, one that would take months, he would be there for her. He wasn't by her side when they were genin but, he would make up for those times now. He got a second chance and this time, he wasn't going to waste it.

* * *

Okay, so short chapter but, don't worry, this story is almost done, I think two more chapters and that's it! I know I know, there's no lemon in this chapter but, it's in the next one! 

Well, Next chapter will be out by the end of next week Sorry for the wait guys but SCHOOL SUX!

I'm getting killed by Trig and AP Bio and AP Lit is no picnic either!

Well, Bare with me guys, I'll try and upload sooner, I'll really try but, this isn't my only story to write! REVIEW!

Love ya guys!

Slyvia OUT


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